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MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 


A  NEW  PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  WASHINGTON 
"When  I  had  something  to  say   about  the  white   people   I 
said  it  to  the  white  people;  when  I  had  something  to  say  about 
coloured  people  I  said  it  to  coloured  people." 


THE  LIBRARY 


TnpiSPERsrrY  c  cwoi  * 


MY    LARGER 
EDUCATION 

BEING  CHAPTERS  FROM  MY  EXPERIENCE 


BY 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

Author  of  "Up  From  Slavery,"  "The  Story  of  the  Negro," . 
"Character  Building,"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


Garden  City        New  York 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1911 


/  to-?? 


=V          / 

% 

/            sir* 

*n> 

X   "  ^ 

f*V  .. 

X         / 

'-.  ^w* 

ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED,    INCLUDING    THAT    OF   TRANSLATION 

/ 

INTO  FOREIGN   LANGUAGES,    INCLUDING    THE  SCANDINAVIAN 
/ 

/ 

— s       COPYRIGHT,   I9IO,    ICJII,  DOUDLEDAY,   PAGE   &   COMl'AMY 

\  •  \ 


THE    COUNTRY    LIFE    PRESS,    GARDEN    CITY,   N.  Y. 


My  Larger  Education 

CHAPTER  I 

LEARNING    FROM    MEN    AND    THINGS 

IT  HAS  been  my  fortune  to  be  associated  all  my 
life  with  a  problem  —  a  hard,  perplexing,  but 
important  problem.  There  was  a  time  when 
I  looked  upon  this  fact  as  a  great  misfortune.  It 
seemed  to  me  a  great  hardship  that  I  was  born 
poor,  and  it  seemed  an  even  greater  hardship  that 
I  should  have  been  born  a  Negro.  I  did  not  like 
to  admit,  even  to  myself,  that  I  felt  this  way  about 
the  matter,  because  it  seemed  to  me  an  indication 
of  w^-Iviiess  and  cowardice  for  any  man  to  complain 
about  the  condition  he  was  born  to.  Later  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  not  only  weak  and  cow- 
ardly, but  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  think  of  the 
matter  in  the  way  in  which  I  had  done.  I  came  to 
see  that,  along  with  his  disadvantages,  the  Negro 
in  America  had  some  advantages,  and  I  made  up 
my  mind  that  opportunities  that  had  been  denied 

3 


4  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

him  from  without  could  be  more  than  made  up  by 
greater  concentration  and  power  within. 

Perhaps  I  can  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  a  fact 
I  learned  while  I  was  in  school.  I  recall  my  teach- 
er's explaining  to  the  class  one  day  how  it  was  that 
steam  or  any  other  form  of  energy,  if  allowed  to  es- 
cape and  dissipate  itself,  loses  its  value  as  a  motive 
power.  Energy  must  be  confined;  steam  must  be 
locked  in  a  boiler  in  order  to  generate  power.  The 
same  thing  seems  to  have  been  true  in  the  case  of 
the  Negro.  Where  the  Negro  has  met  with  dis- 
criminations and  with  difficulties  because  of  his 
race,  he  has  invariably  tended  to  get  up  more  steam. 
When  this  steam  has  been  rightly  directed  and  con- 
trolled, it  has  become  a  great  force  in  the  upbuilding 
of  the  race.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  merely  spent 
itself  in  fruitless  agitation  and  hot  air,  no  good  has 
come  of  it. 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the  difficulty  that 
the  ISfegro  has  met  since  emancipation  have,  in 
my  opinion,  not  always,  but  on  the  whole,  helped 
him  more  than  they  have  hindered  him.  For  ex- 
ample, I  think  the  progress  which  the  Negro  has 
made  within  less  than  half  a  century  in  the  matter  of 
learning  to  read  and  write  the  English  language  has 
been  due  in  large  part  to  the  fact  that,  in  slavery, 
this  knowledge  was  forbidden  him.     My  experience 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS  5 

and  observation  have  taught  me  that  people  who 
try  to  withhold  the  best  things  in  civilization  from 
any  group  of  people,  or  race  of  people,  not  infre- 
quently aid  that  people  to  the  very  things  that  they 
are  trying  to  withhold  from  them.  I  am  sure  that, 
in  my  own  case,  I  should  never  have  made  the  ef- 
forts that  I  did  make  in  my  early  boyhood  to  get 
an  education  and  still  later  to  develop  the  Tus- 
kegee  Institute  in  Alabama  if  I  had  not  been  con- 
scious of  the  fact  that  there  were  a  large  number  of 
people  in  the  world  who  did  not  believe  that  the 
Negro  boy  could  learn  or  that  members  of  the  Negro 
race  could  build  up.  and  conduct  a  large  institution 
of   learning. 

A  wider  acquaintance  with  men  in  all  the  dif- 
ferent grades  of  life  taught  me  that  the  Negro's 
case  is  not  peculiar.  The  majority  of  successful 
men  are  persons  who  have  had  difficulties  to  over- 
come, problems  to  master;  and,  in  overcoming  those 
difficulties  and  mastering  those  problems,  they  have 
gained  strength  of  mind  and  a  clearness  of  vision 
that  few  persons  who  have  lived  a  life  of  ease  have 
been  able  to  attain.  Experience  has  taught  me, 
in  fact,  that  no  man  should  be  pitied  because,  every 
day  in  his  life,  he  faces  a  hard,  stubborn  problem, 
but  rather  that  it  is  the  man  who  has  no  problem 
to  solve,  no  hardships  to  face,  who  is  to  be  pitied. 


6  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

His  misfortune  consists  in  the  fact  that  he  has  noth- 
ing in  his  life  which  will  strengthen  and  form  his 
character;  nothing  to  call  out  his  latent  powers,  and 
deepen  and  widen  his  hold  on  life.  It  has  come  home 
to  me  more  in  recent  years  that  I  have  had,  just 
because  my  life  has  been  connected  with  a  problem, 
some  unusual  opportunities.  I  have  had  unusual 
opportunities  for  example  in  getting  an  education 
in  the  broader  sense  of  the  word. 

If  I  had  not  been  born  a  slave,  for  example,  I 
never  could  have  had  the  opportunity,  perhaps, 
of  associating  day  by  day  with  the  most  ignorant 
people,  so  far  as  books  are  concerned,  and  thus  com- 
ing in  contact  with  people  of  this  class  at  first  hand. 
The  most  fortunate  part  of  my  early  experience 
was  that  which  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  getting 
into  direct  contact  and  of  communing  with  and 
taking  lessons  from  the  old  class  of  coloured  people 
who  have  been  slaves.  At  the  present  time  few  * 
experiences  afford  me  more  genuine  pleasure  than 
to  get  a  day  or  a  half  a  day  off  and  go  out  into  the 
country,  miles  from  town  and  railroad,  and  spend 
the  time  in  close  contact  with  a  coloured  farmer 
and  his  family. 

And  then  I  have  felt  for  a  long  while  that,  if  I 
had  not  been  a  slave  and  lived  on  a  slave  plantation, 
I  never  would  have  had  the  opportunity  to  learn 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS  7 

nature,  to  love  the  soil,  to  love  cows  and  pigs  and 
trees  and  flowers  and  birds  and  worms  and  creeping 
things.  I  have  always  been  intensely  fond  of  out- 
door life.  Perhaps  the  explanation  for  this  lies 
partly  in  the  fact  that  I  was  born  nearly  out  of  doors. 
I  have  also,  from  my  earliest  childhood,  been  very 
fond  of  animals  and  fowls.  When  I  was  but  a  child, 
and  a  slave,  I  had  close  and  interesting  acquaint- 
ances with  animals. 

During  my  childhood  days,  as  a  slave,  I  did  not 
see  very  much  of  my  mother,  since  she  was  obliged 
to  leave  her  children  very  early  in  the  morning  to 
begin  her  day's  work.  The  early  departure  of  my 
mother  often  made  the  matter  of  my  securing  break- 
fast uncertain.  This  led  to  my  first  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  animals. 

In  those  days  it  was  the  custom  upon  the  planta- 
tion to  boil  the  Indian  corn  that  was  fed  to  the  cows 
and  pigs.  At  times,  when  I  had  failed  to  get  any 
other  breakfast,  I  used  to  go  to  the  places  where  the 
cows  and  pigs  were  fed  and  make  my  breakfast  off 
this  boiled  corn,  or  else  go  to  the  place  where  it  was 
the  custom  to  boil  the  corn,  and  get  my  share  there 
before  it  was  taken  to  the  animals. 

If  I  was  not  there  at  the  exact  moment  of  feeding, 
I  could  still  find  enough  corn  scattered  around  the 
fence  or  the  trough  to  satisfy  me.     Some  people 


8  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

may  think  that  this  was  a  pretty  bad  way  in  which 
to  get  one's  food,  but,  leaving  out  the  name  and  the 
associations,  there  was  nothing  very  bad  about  it. 
Any  one  who  has  eaten  hard-boiled  corn  knows 
it  has  a  delicious  taste.  I  never  pass  a  pot  of 
boiled  corn  now  without  yielding  to  the  temptation 
to  eat  a  few  grains. 

I  think  that  I  owe  a  great  deal  of  my  present 
strength  and  ability  to  work  to  my  love  of  out-door 
life.  It  is  true  that  the  amount  of  time  that  I  can 
spend  in  the  open  air  is  now  very  limited.  Taken . 
on  an  average,  it  is  perhaps  not  more  than  an  hour 
a  day,  but  I  make  the  most  of  that  hour.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  I  get  much  pleasure  out  of  the  antici- 
pation and  the  planning  for  that  hour. 

When  I  am  at  my  home  at  Tuskegee,  I  usually 
find  a  way,  by  rising  early  in  the  morning,  to  spend 
at  least  half  an  hour  in  my  garden,  or  with  my  fowls, 
pigs,  or  cows.  As  far  as  I  can  get  the  time,  I  like 
to  find  the  new  eggs  each  morning  myself,  and  when 
at  home  am  selfish  enough  to  permit  no  one  else 
to  do  this  in  my  place.  As  with  the  growing  plants, 
there  is  a  sense  of  freshness  and  newness  and  of 
restfulness  in  connection  with  the  finding  and  hand- 
ling of  newly  laid  eggs  that  is  delightful  to  me. 
Both  the  anticipation  and  the  realization  are  most 
pleasing.     I  begin  the  day  by  seeing  how  many  eggs 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS  9 

I  can  find,  or  how  many  little  chickens  there  are 
that  are  just  beginning  to  peep  through  the  shells. 

I  am  deeply  interested  in  the  different  kinds  of 
fowls,  and,  aside  from  the  large  number  grown  by 
the  school  in  its  poultry  house  and  yards,  I  grow  at 
my  own  home  common  chickens,  Plymouth  Rocks, 
Buff  Cochins  and  Brahmas,  Peking  ducks,  and  fan- 
tailed  pigeons. 

The  pig,  I  think,  is  my  favourite  animal.  I  do 
not  know  how  this  will  strike  the  taste  of  my  read- 
ers, but  it  is  true.  In  addition  to  some  common 
bred  pigs,  I  keep  a  few  Berkshires  and  some  Poland 
Chinas;  and  it  is  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  watch 
their  development  and  increase  from  month  to 
month.  Practically  all  the  pork  used  in  my  family 
is  of  my  own  raising. 

This  will,  perhaps,  illustrate  what  I  mean  when 
I  say  that  I  have  gotten  a  large  part  of  my  educa- 
tion from  actual  contact  with  things,  rather  than 
through  the  medium  of  books.  I  like  to  touch 
things  and  handle  them;  I  like  to  watch  plants 
grow  and  observe  the  behaviour  of  animals.  For 
the  same  reason,  I  like  to  deal  with  things,  as  far  as 
possible,  at  first  hand,  in  the  way  that  the  carpenter 
deals  with  wood,  the  blacksmith  with  iron,  and  the 
farmer  with  the  earth.  I  believe  that  there  is 
something  gained  by  getting  acquainted,  in  the  way 


io  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

which  I  have  described,  with  the  physical  world 
about  you  that  is  almost  indispensable. 

A  number  of  years  ago,  in  a  book  called,  "Up 
From  Slavery,"  I  told  a  story  of  my  early  life,  de- 
scribing the  manner  in  which  I  got  my  early  school- 
ing and  the  circumstances  under  which  I  came  to 
start  the  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute. 
At  the  time  that  school  was  organized  I  had  read 
very  little,  and,  in  fact,  few  books  on  the  subject 
of  teaching,  and  knew  very  little  about  the  science 
of  education  and  pedagogy.  I  had  had  the  advan- 
tage of  going  through  an  exceptional  school  at 
Hampton  and  of  coming  in  contact  with  an  inspired 
teacher  in  General  Armstrong;  but  I  had  never  at- 
tempted to  formulate  the  methods  of  teaching  I 
used  in  that  school,  and  I  had  very  little  experience 
in  applying  them  to  the  new  and  difficult  problems 
I  met  as  soon  as  I  attempted  to  conduct  a  school  of 
my  own.  What  I  learned  about  the  science  of 
education  I  learned  in  my  efforts  in  working  out 
the  plans  for,  and  organizing  and  perfecting  the 
educational  methods  at,  Tuskegee. 

The  necessity  of  collecting  large  sums  of  money 
every  year  to  carry  on  the  work  at  Tuskegee  com- 
pelled me  to  travel  much  and  brought  me  in  contact 
with  all  kinds  of  people.  As  soon  as  I  began  to  meet 
educated  and  cultivated  people,  people  who  had  had 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS        11 

the  advantage  of  study  in  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  as  well  as  the  advantages  of  much  reading 
and  travel,  I  soon  became  conscious  of  my  own  dis- 
advantages. I  found  that  the  people  I  met  were 
able  to  speak  fluently  and  with  perfect  familiarity 
about  a  great  many  things  with  which  I  was  ac- 
quainted in  only  the  vaguest  sort  of  way.  In  speak- 
ing they  used  words  and  phrases  from  authors 
whom  I  had  never  read  and  often  never  heard  of. 
All  this  made  me  feel  more  keenly  my  deficiencies, 
and  the  more  I  thought  about  it  the  more  it  troubled 
and  worried  me.  It  made  me  feel  all  the  more 
badly  because  I  discovered  that,  if  I  were  to  carry 
on  the  work  I  had  undertaken  to  do,  if  I  was  ever 
going  to  accomplish  any  of  the  things  that  it  seemed 
to  me  important  to  do,  I  should  never  find  time, 
'no  matter  how  diligent  and  studious  I  might  be, 
to  overtake  them  and  possess  myself  of  the  knowl- 
edge and  familiarity  with  books  for  which  I  envied 
those  persons  who  had  been  more  highly  educated 
than    myself. 

After  a  time,  however,  I  found  that  while  I  was 
at  a  certain  disadvantage  among  highly  educated 
and  cultivated  people  in  certain  directions,  I  had 
certain  advantages  over  them  in  others.  I  found 
that  the  man  who  has  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  some  department  of  life  through  personal  ex- 


i2  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

perience  has  a  great  advantage  over  persons  who 
have  gained  their  knowledge  of  life  almost  entirely 
through  books.  I  found  also  that,  by  using  my  per- 
sonal experience  and  observation;  by  making  use  of 
the  stories  that  I  had  heard,  as  illustrations;  by 
relating  some  incident  that  happened  in  my  own 
case  or  some  incident  that  I  had  heard  from  some 
one  else,  I  could  frequently  express  what  I  had  to 
say  in  a  much  clearer  and  more  impressive  way  than 
if  I  made  use  of  the  language  of  books  or  the  state- 
ments and  quotations  from  the  authors  of  books. 
More  than  that,  as  I  reflected  upon  the  matter,  I 
discovered  that  these  authors,  in  their  books,  were 
after  all  merely  making  use  of  their  own  experiences 
or  expressing  ideas  which  they  had  worked  out  in 
actual  life,  and  that  to  make  use  of  their  language  and 
ideas  was  merely  to  get  life  second  hand. 

The  result  was  that  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I 
would  try  to  make  up  for  my  defects  in  my  knowl- 
edge of  books  by  my  knowledge  of  men  and  things. 
I  said  I  would  take  living  men  and  women  for  my 
study,  and  I  would  give  the  closest  attention  pos- 
sible to  everything  that  was  going  on  in  the  world 
about  me.  I  determined  that  I  would  get  my  edu- 
cation out  of  my  work;  I  would  learn  about  educa- 
tion in  solving  the  problems  of  the  school  as  they 
arose  from  day  to  day,  and  learn  about  life  by  learn- 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS        13 

ing  to  deal  with  men.  I  said  to  myself  that  I  would 
try  to  learn  something  from  every  man  I  met;  make 
him  my  text-book,  read  him,  study  him,  and  learn 
something  from  him.  So  I  began  deliberately  to 
try  to  learn  from  men.  I  learned  something  from 
big  men  and  something  from  little  men,  from  the 
man  with  prejudice  and  the  man  without  prejudice. 
As  I  studied  and  understood  them,  I  found  that  I 
began  to  like  men  better;  even  those  who  treated 
me  badly  did  not  cause  me  to  lose  my  temper  or 
patience,  as  soon  as  I  found  that  I  could  learn 
something  from  them. 

For  example,  some  years  ago,  I  had  an  experience 
which  taught  me  a  lesson  in  politeness  and  liber- 
ality which  I  shall  long  remember.  I  was  in  a 
large  city  making  calls  on  wealthy  people  in  order 
to  interest  them  in  our  work  at  Tuskegee  Institute. 
I  called  at  the  office  of  a  man,  and  he  spoke  to  me 
in  the  most  abrupt  and  insulting  manner.  He  not 
only  refused  to  give  any  money  but  spoke  of  my 
race  in  a  manner  that  no  gentleman  of  culture  ought 
ever  to  permit  himself  to  speak  of  another  race. 
A  few  minutes  later  I  called  on  another  gentleman 
in  the  same  city,  who  received  me  politely,  thanked 
me  for  calling  upon  him,  but  explained  that  he  was 
so  situated  that  he  could  not  help  me.  My  inter- 
view with  the  first  man  occupied  about  twice  as 


i4  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

much  of  his  time  and  my  time  as  was  true  of  the 
second  gentleman.  I  learned  from  this  experience 
that  it  takes  no  more  time  to  be  polite  to  every 
one  than  it  does  to  be  rude. 

During  the  later  years  of  my  experience  I  have 
had  the  good  fortune  to  study  not  only  white  men 
and  learn  from  them,  but  coloured  men  as  well. 
In  my  earlier  experiences  I  used  to  have  sympathy 
with  the  coloured  people  who  were  narrow  and  bitter 
toward  white  people.  As  I  grew  older  I  began  to 
study  that  class  of  coloured  people,  and  I  found  that 
they  did  not  get  anywhere,  that  their  bitterness  and 
narrowness  toward  the  white  man  did  not  hurt  the 
white  man  or  change  his  feeling  toward  the  coloured 
race,  but  that,  in  almost  every  case,  the  cherishing 
of  such  feeling  toward  the  white  man  reacted  upon 
the  coloured  man  and  made  him  narrow  and  bitter. 

In  the  chapters  which  follow,  I  have  given  some 
account  of  the  way  in  which  my  work  has  brought 
me  in  contact,  not  so  much  with  plants  and  animals 
and  with  physical  objects,  but  rather  with  human 
institutions,  with  politics,  with  newspapers,  Avith 
educational  and  social  problems  of  various  kinds 
and  descriptions,  and  I  have  tried  to  indicate  in 
every  case  the  way  in  which  I  have  been  educated 
through  them. 

One  of  the  purposes  in  writing  these  later  chapters 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS         15 

from  my  experience  is  to  complete  the  story  of  my 
education  which  I  began  in  the  book,  "Up  From 
Slavery";  to  answer  the  questions  I  have  fre- 
quently been  asked  as  to  how  I  have  worked  out  for 
myself  the  educational  methods  which  we  are  now 
using  at  Tuskegee;  and,  finally,  to  illustrate,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  members  of  my  own  race,  some  of  the 
ways  in  which  a  people  who  are  struggling  upward 
may  turn  disadvantages  into  opportunities;  how 
they  may  gain  within  themselves  something  that 
will  compensate  them  for  what  they  have  been 
deprived  of  from  without. 

If  I  have  learned  much  from  things,  I  have  learned 
more  from  men.  The  work  that  I  started  to  do 
brought  me  early  in  contact  with  some  of  the  most 
generous,  high-minded  and  public-spirited  persons 
in  the  country.  In  the  chapters  that  follow  I  have 
tried  to  indicate  what  I  have  learned  from  contact 
with  those  men.  Perhaps  I  can  best  indicate  the 
'  way  in  which  I  have  been  educated  by  my  contact 
with  these  men  if  I  tell  something  of  my  relations 
with  one  man  from  whom,  after  General  Armstrong, 
my  first  teacher,  I  learned,  perhaps,  more  than 
from  any  other.  I  refer  to  the  late  William  H. 
Baldwin,  Jr. 

I  well  remember  my  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Bald- 
win, although  the  exact  date  has  now  slipped  from 


16  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

rny  memory.  He  was  at  that  time  manager  and 
vice-president  of  the  Southern  Railway,  with  head- 
quarters in  Washington,  D.  C.  I  had  been  given 
a  letter  to  him  by  his  father,  in  Boston.  I  found  him 
one  morning  in  his  office  and  presented  this  letter, 
which  he  read  over  carefully,  as  was  his  custom  in 
such  matters.  Then  we  began  talking  about  the 
school  at  Tuskegee  and  its  work.  I  had  been  in  the 
room  but  a  few  minutes  when  the  conviction  forced 
itself  upon  me  that  I  had  met  a  man  who  could  thor- 
oughly understand  me  and  whom  I  understood. 
Indeed,  I  had  the  feeling  that  I  was  in  the  presence 
of  one  in  whose  mind  there  was  neither  faltering  nor 
concealment,  and  one  from  whom  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble to  hide  a  single  thought  or  purpose.  I  never  had 
occasion,  during  all  the  years  that  I  knew  Mr. 
Baldwin,  to  change  the  opinion  formed  of  him  at 
my  first  visit,  or  to  feel  that  the  understanding 
established  between  us  then  was  ever  clouded  or 
diminished. 

Mr.  Baldwin  did  not  at  first  manifest  any  definite 
interest  in  the  work  at  Tuskegee.  He  said  he 
would  come  down  and  "look  us  over"  and  if  he 
found  we  were  doing  "the  real  thing,"  as  he 
expressed  it,  he  would  do  anything  he  could  to 
help   us. 

Within  a  few  weeks  after  this  first  meeting,  Mr. 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS        17 

Baldwin  fulfilled  his  promise  to  "look  us  over"  and 
see  if  we  were  doing  "the  real  thing."  He  spent 
a  busy  day  on  the  grounds  of  the  institution,  going 
through  every  department  with  the  thoroughness 
of  an  experienced  executive.  He  found,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  a  great  many  deficiencies  in  the 
details  of  the  management  and  organization  of  the 
school,  but  he  saw  what  the  institution  was  striving 
to  do  and  at  once  determined  to  help.  In  fact, 
from  that  time  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  to 
serve  the  institution  in  every  possible  way.  He  was 
just  as  deeply  and  as  practically  interested  in  every- 
thing that  concerned  the  progress  and  reputation 
of  the  school  and  its  work  as  any  one  connected 
with  it.  I  think  I  never  met  any  one  who  was  more 
genuinely  interested  than  Mr.  Baldwin  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Negro  people.  During  his  last  visit  to 
Tuskegee  I  remember  that  Mrs.  Washington  said 
to  me  one  day  that  she  would  be  glad  when  he  went 
away.  She  meant  that  he  sympathized  too  deeply, 
felttoo  profoundly  thebigness  of  the  task  and  the  lim- 
itations under  which  the  school  was  labouring. 
He  was  touched  by  everything  he  saw.  The  strug- 
gles of  individual  students  and  teachers  whom  he 
came  to  know  weighed  heavily  on  him  and  he  needed 
to  get  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  school  and  its 
work,  and  rest.     None  of  us  realized  at  that  time 


18  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

trTat  the  disease  that  finally  took  him  away  was  al- 
ready doing  its  fatal  work. 

William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.,  understood,  as  few  men 
have,  the  Negro  people,  and,  understanding  them 
as  he  did,  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  their  ambi- 
tion to  rise  to  a  position  of  usefulness  as  large  and  as 
honourable  as  that  of  any  other  race.  Persons  who 
knew  him  only  slightly,  after  hearing  him  express 
himself  on  the  race  question,  gained  the  impression 
that  he  was  not  in  full  sympathy  with  the  deepest 
aspirations  of  the  Negro  people.  But  this  impres- 
sion was  mistaken.  He  was,  before  all,  anxious  that 
the  Negro  people,  in  their  struggle  to  go  forward  and 
succeed,  should  not  mistake  the  appearance  for  the 
real  thing.  In  his  effort  to  have  them  avoid  this 
danger  he  sometimes  seemed  to  go  too  far. 

But  I  would  do  injustice  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Baldwin  if,  by  anything  I  have  written  or  said,  I 
should  leave  the  impression  that,  because  he  was 
interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Negro,  he  was  any 
the  less  interested  in  the  progress  of  the 
white  race  in  the  South.  He  saw  with  perfect 
clearness  that  both  races  were,  to  a  certain  extent, 
hampered  in  their  struggles  upward  by  conditions 
which  they  had  inherited  and  for  which  neither  was 
wholly  responsible.  He  saw,  also,  that  in  the  long 
run  the  welfare  of  each  was  bound  up  with  that  of 


LEARNING  FROM  MEN  AND  THINGS        19 

the  other.  Much  as  he  did  for  Negro  education,  he 
never  overlooked  an  opportunity  to  get  money  and 
secure  support  for  the  education  of  the  unfortunate 
white  people  of  the  South. 

Mr.  Baldwin's  greatest  service  to  Tuskegee  In- 
stitute was  in  the  reorganization  of  the  finances  of 
the  institution.  When  he  fir§t  became  one  of  the 
trustees,  the  business  organization  of  the  school, 
its  finances,  and  the  system  of  keeping  the  accounts 
were  in  a  very  uncertain  and  unsatisfactory  condi- 
tion. He  began  at  once  to  look  into  our  investments 
and  to  study  the  items  of  our  annual  budget.  The 
school  was  growing  rapidly.  The  number  of  pro- 
ductive industries  carried  on  by  the  school,  the  large 
amount  of  building  we  were  engaged  in,  and  the 
large  amount  of  business  carried  on  between  the 
different  departments  made  the  accounts  of  the 
school  particularly  complicated  and  the  prob- 
lem of  a  proper  business  organization  a  most 
important  one. 

As  I  look  back  over  the  years  in  which  he  and  I 
worked  together,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  most 
pleasant  and  profitable  hours  I  have  ever  known 
were  spent  with  Mr.  Baldwin  in  his  library  in  Brook- 
lyn, while  we  studied  out  together  the  problems 
and  discussed  the  questions  which  this  work  in- 
volved.    When  I  came  to  New  York  he  would  often 


20  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

invite  me  to  his  home  and,  as  soon  as  dinner  was 
over,  we  would  spend  three  or  four  hours  in  his  li- 
brary, sometimes  not  breaking  up  our  conference 
until  after  midnight. 

Among  other  things  I  learned  from  Mr.  Baldwin 
was  that  it  is  the  smaller,  the  petty,  things  in  life 
that  divide  people.  It  is  the  great  tasks  that  bring 
men  together.  Any  man  who  will  take  up  his  life 
in  a  broad  spirit,  not  of  class  nor  sect  nor  locality, 
but  in  the  freer  spirit  which  seeks  to  perform  a  work 
simply  because  it  is  good,  that  man  can  have  the 
support  and  the  friendship  of  the  best  and  highest 
people  in  the  world. 

As  I  have  said  before,  I  do  not  regret  that  I  was 
born  a  slave.  I  am  not  sorry  that  I  found  myself 
part  of  a  problem;  on  the  contrary,  that  problem 
has  given  direction  and  meaning  to  my  life  and  has 
brought  me  friendships  and  comforts  that  I  could 
have  gotten  in  no  other  way. 


CHAPTER  II 

BUILDING   A    SCHOOL   AROUND   A    PROBLEM 

ONE    of    the    first    questions    that    I    had    to 
answer    for    myself    after     beginning    my 
work   at  Tuskegee  was  how  I  was  to  deal 
with  public  opinion  on  the  race  question. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  a  man  who  had  started 
out  with  the  humble  purpose  of  establishing  a  little 
Negro  industrial  school  in  a  small  Southern  country 
town  should  find  himself,  to  any  great  extent,  either 
helped  or  hindered  in  his  work  by  what  the  general 
public  was  thinking  and  saying  about  any  of  the 
large  social  or  educational  problems  of  the  day. 
But  such  was  the  case  at  that  time  in  Alabama; 
and  so  it  was  that  I  had  not  gone  very  far  in  my 
work  before  I  found  myself  trying  to  formulate  clear 
and  definite  answers  to  some  very  fundamental  ques- 
tions. 

The  questions  came  to  me  in  this  way:  Coloured 
people  wanted  to  know  why  I  proposed  to  teach 
their  children  to  work.     They  said  that  they  and 


22  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

their  parents  had  been  compelled  to  work  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  now  they  wanted  their 
children  to  go  to  school  so  that  they  might  be  free 
and  live  like  the  white  folks  —  without  working. 
That  was  the  way  in  which  the  average  coloured 
man  looked  at  the  matter. 

Some  of  the  Southern  white  people,  on  the  con- 
trary, were  opposed  to  any  kind  of  education  of 
the  Negro.  Others  inquired  whether  I  was  merely 
going  to  train  preachers  and  teachers,  or  whether 
I  proposed  to  furnish  them  with  trained  servants. 

Some  of  the  people  in  the  North  understood 
that  I  proposed  to  train  the  Negro  to  be  a  mere 
"hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of  water,"  and  feared 
that  my  school  would  make  no  effort  to  prepare 
him  to  take  his  place  in  the  community  as  a  man 
and  a  citizen. 

Of  course  all  these  different  views  about  the  kind 
of  education  that  the  Negro  ought  or  ought  not 
to  have  were  deeply  tinged  with  racial  and  sec- 
tional feelings.  The  rule  of  the  "carpet-bag" 
government  had  just  come  to  an  end  in  Alabama. 
The  masses  of  the  white  people  were  very  bitter 
against  the  Negroes  as  a  result  of  the  excitement 
and  agitation  of  the  Reconstruction  period. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  coloured  people  —  who 
had  recently  lost,  to  a  very  large  extent,  their  place 


2    » 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  23 

in  the  politics  of  the  state  —  were  greatly  discouraged 
and  disheartened.  Many  of  them  feared  that  they 
were  going  to  be  drawn  back  into  slavery.  At  this 
time  also  there  was  still  a  great  deal  of  bitterness 
between  the  North  and  the  South  in  regard  to  any- 
thing that  concerned  political  matters. 

I  found  myself,  as  it  were,  at  the  angle  where 
these  opposing  forces  met.  I  saw  that,  in  carrying 
out  the  work  I  had  planned,  I  was  likely  to  be 
opposed  or  criticised  at  some  point  by  each  of  these 
parties.  On  the  other  hand,  I  saw  just  as  clearly 
that  in  order  to  succeed  I  must  in  some  way  secure 
the  support  and  sympathy  of  each  of  them. 

I  knew,  for  example,  that  the  South  was  poor  and 
the  North  was  rich.  I  knew  that  Northern  people 
believed,  as  the  South  at  that  time  did  not  believe, 
in  the  power  of  education  to  inspire,  to  uplift,  and 
to  regenerate  the  masses  of  the  people.  I  knew 
that  the  North  was  eager  to  go  forward  and  com- 
plete, with  the  aid  of  education,  the  work  of  lib- 
eration which  had  been  begun  with  the  sword,  and 
that  Northern  people  would  be  willing  and  glad  to 
give  their  support  to  any  school  or  other  agency 
that  proposed  to  do  this  work  in  a  really  funda- 
mental way. 

It  was,  at  the  same  time,  plain  to  me  that  no 
effort  put  forth  in    behalf    of  the  members  of  my 


24  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

own  race  who  were  in  the  South  was  going  to 
succeed  unless  it  finally  won  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  the  best  white  people  in  the  South. 
I  knew  also  —  what  many  Northern  people  did  not 
know  or  understand  —  that  however  much  they 
might  doubt  the  wisdom  of  educating  the  Negro, 
deep  down  in  their  hearts  the  Southern  white  people 
had  a  feeling  of  gratitude  toward  the  Negro  race; 
and  I  was  convinced  that  in  the  long  run  any  sound 
and  sincere  effort  that  was  made  to  help  the  Negro 
was  going  to  have  the  Southern  white  man's  support. 

Finally,  I  had  faith  in  the  good  common-sense  of 
the  masses  of  my  own  race.  I  felt  confident  that, 
if  I  were  actually  on  the  right  track  in  the  kind  of 
education  that  I  proposed  to  give  them  and  at 
the  same  time  remained  honest  and  sincere  in  all 
my  dealings  with  them,  I  was  bound  to  win  their 
support,  not  only  for  the  school  that  I  had  started, 
but  for  all  that  I  had  in  my  mind  to  do  for  them. 

Still  it  was  often  a  puzzling  and  a  trying  problem 
to  determine  how  best  to  win  and  hold  the  respect 
of  all  three  of  these  classes  of  people,  each  of  which 
looked  with  such  different  eyes  and  from  such  widely 
different  points  of  view  at  what  I  was  attempting 
to  do.  The  temptation  which  presented  itself 
to  me  in  my  dealings  with  these  three  classes-  of 
people  was  to  show  each  group  the  side  of  the  sub- 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  25 

ject  that  it  would  be  most  willing  to  look  at,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  keep  silent  about  those  matters 
in  regard  to  which  they  were  likely  to  differ  with  me. 
There  was  the  temptation  to  say  to  the  white  man 
the  thing  that  the  white  man  wanted  to  hear;  to 
say  to  the  coloured  man  the  thing  that  he  wanted 
to  hear;  to  say  one  thing  in  the  North  and  another 
in  the  South. 

Perhaps  I  should  have  yielded  to  this  temptation 
if  I  had  not  perceived  that  in  the  long  run  I  should 
be  found  out,  and  that  if  I  hoped  to  do  anything 
of  lasting  value  for  my  own  people  or  for  the  South 
I  must  first  get  down  to  bedrock. 

There  is  a  story  of  an  old  coloured  minister,  which 
I  am  fond  of  telling,  that  illustrates  what  I  mean. 
The  old  fellow  was  trying  to  explain  to  a  Sunday- 
school  class  how  it  was  and  why  it  was  that  Pharaoh 
and  his  party  were  drowned  when  they  were  trying 
to  cross  the  Red  Sea,  and  how  it  was  and  why  it 
was  that  the  Children  of  Israel  crossed  over  dry- 
shod.     He  explained  it  in  this  wise: 

"When  the  first  party  came  along  it  was  early 
in  the  morning  and  the  ice  was  hard  and  thick,  and 
the  first  party  had  no  trouble  in  crossing  over  on  the 
ice;  but  when  Pharaoh  and  his  party  came  along  the 
sun  was  shining  on  the  ice,  and  when  they  got  on  the 
ice  it  broke,  and  they  went  in  and  got  drowned." 


26  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Now  there  happened  to  be  in  this  class  a  young 
coloured  man  who  had  had  considerable  schooling, 
and  this  young  fellow  turned  to  the  old  minister 
and  said: 

"Now,  Mr.  Minister,  I  do  not  understand  that 
kind  of  explanation.  I  have  been  going  to  school 
and  have  been  studying  all  these  conditions,  and 
my  geography  teaches  me  that  ice  does  not  freeze 
within  a  certain  distance  of  the  equator." 

The  old  minister  replied:  "Now,  I'se  been 
expecting  something  just  like  this.  There's  always 
some  fellow  ready  to  spile  all  the  theology.  The 
time  I'se  talkin'  about  was  before  they  had  any 
jogerphies  or  'quaters  either." 

Now  this  old  man,  in  his  plain  and  simple  way, 
was  trying  to  brush  aside  all  artificiality  and  to 
get  down  to  bedrock.  So  it  was  with  me.  There 
have  always  been  a  number  of  educated  and  clever 
persons  among  my  race  who  are  able  to  make 
plausible  and  fine-sounding  statements  about  all 
the  different  phases  of  the  Negro  problem,  but  I 
saw  clearly  that  I  should  have  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  old  preacher  and  start  on  a  solid  basis  in  order 
to  succeed  in  the  work  that  I  had  undertaken. 

So,  after  thinking  the  matter  all  out  as  I  have 
described,  I  made  up  my  mind  definitely  on  one  or 
two  fundamental  points.     I  determined: 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  27 

First,  that  I  should  at  all  times  be  perfectly  frank 
and  honest  in  dealing  with  each  of  the  three  classes 
of  people  that  I  have  mentioned; 

Second,  that  I  should  not  depend  upon  any 
"short-cuts"  or  expedients  merely  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  temporary  popularity  or  advantage, 
whether  for  the  time  being  such  action  brought  me 
popularity  or  the  reverse.  With  these  two  points 
clear  before  me  as  my  creed,  I  began  going  forward. 

One  thing  which  gave  me  faith  at  the  outset,  and 
increased  my  confidence  as  I  went  on,  was  the  in- 
sight which  I  early  gained  into  the  actual  relations 
of  the  races  in  the  South.  I  observed,  in  the  first 
place,  that  as  a  result  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  slavery  the  two  races  had  become  bound  to- 
gether in  intimate  ways  that  people  outside  of  the 
South  could  not  understand,  and  of  which  the 
white  people  and  coloured  people  themselves  were 
perhaps  not  fully  conscious.  More  than  that,  I 
perceived  that  the  two  races  needed  each  other 
and  that  for  many  years  to  come  no  other  labouring 
class  of  people  would  be  able  to  fill  the  place  occu- 
pied by  the  Negro  in  the  life  of  the  Southern 
white  man. 

I  saw  also  one  change  that  had  been  brought 
about  as  a  result  of  freedom,  a  change  which  many 
Southern  white  men  had,  it  seemed  to  me,  failed 


28  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

to  see.  As  long  as  slavery  existed,  the  white  man, 
for  his  own  protection  and  in  order  to  keep  the  Negro 
contented  with  his  condition  of  servitude,  was  com- 
pelled to  keep  him  in  ignorance.  In  freedom,  how- 
ever, just  the  reverse  condition  exists.  Now  the  j 
white  man  is  not  only  free  to  assist  the  Negro  in 
his  effort  to  rise,  but  he  has  every  motive  of  self- 
interest  to  do  so,  since  to  uplift  and  educate  the 
Negro  would  reduce  the  number  of  paupers  and 
criminals  of  the  race  and  increase  the  number  and 
efficiency  of  its  skilled  labourers. 

Clear  ideas  did  not  come  into  my  mind  on  this 
subject  at  once.  It  was  only  gradually  that  I 
gained  the  notion  that  there  had  been  two  races 
in  slavery;  that  both  were  now  engaged  in  a  struggle 
to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions;  that 
the  progress  of  each  meant  the  advancement  of 
the  other;  and  that  anything  that  I  attempted  to 
do  for  the  members  of  my  own  race  would  be  of 
no  real  value  to  them  unless  it  was  of  equal  value 
to  the  members  of  the  white  race  by  whom  they  were 
surrounded. 

As  this  thought  got  hold  in  my  mind  and  I  be- 
gan to  see  further  into  the  nature  of  the  task  that 
I  had  undertaken  to  perform,  much  of  the  political 
agitation  and  controversy  that  divided  the  North 
from  the   South,   the  black   man  from  the  white, 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  29 

began  to  look  unreal  and  artificial  to  me.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  people  who  carried  on  political  campaigns 
were  engaged  to  a  very  large  extent  in  a  battle  with 
shadows,  and  that  these  shadows  represented  the 
prejudices  and  animosities  of  a  period  that  was 
now  past. 

On  the  contrary,  the  more  I  thought  about  it, 
the  more  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  kind  of  work 
that  I  had  undertaken  to  do  was  a  very  real  sort 
of  thing.  Moreover,  it  was  a  kind  of  work  which 
tended  not  to  divide,  but  to  unite,  all  the  opposing 
elements  and  forces,  because  it  was  a  work  of  con- 
struction. 

Having  gone  thus  far,  I  began  to  consider  seriously 
how  I  should  proceed  to  gain  the  sympathy  of  each 
of  the  three  groups  that  I  have  mentioned  for  the 
work  that  I  had  in  hand. 

I  determined,  first  of  all,  that  as  far  as  possible 
I  would  try  to  gain  the  active  support  and  coopera- 
tion, in  all  that  I  undertook,  of  the  masses  of  my 
own  race.  With  this  in  view,  before  I  began  my 
work  at  Tuskegee,  I  spent  several  weeks  travelling 
about  among  the  rural  communities  of  Macon 
County,  of  which  Tuskegee  is  the  county  seat. 
During  all  this  time  I  had  an  opportunity  to  meet 
and  talk  individually  with  a  large  number  of  people 
representing    the    rural    classes,    which    constitute 


3o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

80  per  cent,  of  the  Negro  population  in  the  South. 
I  slept  in  their  cabins,  ate  their  food,  talked  to  them 
in  their  churches,  and  discussed  with  them  in  their 
own  homes  their  difficulties  and  their  needs.  In 
this  way  I  gained  a  kind  of  knowledge  which  has 
been  of  great  value  to  me  in  all  my  work  since. 

As  years  went  on,  I  extended  these  visits  to  the 
adjoining  counties  and  adjoining  states.  Then, 
as  the  school  at  Tuskegee  became  better  known,  I 
took  advantage  of  the  invitations  that  came  to  me 
to  visit  more  distant  parts  of  the  country,  where  I 
had  an  opportunity  to  learn  still  more  about  the 
actual  life  of  the  people  and  the  nature  of  the 
difficulties  with  which  they  were  struggling. 

In  all  this,  my  purpose  was  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  masses  of  the  people  —  to  gain  their 
confidence  so  that  I  might  work  with  them  and 
for  them. 

In  the  course  of  travel  and  observation  I  became 
more  and  more  impressed  with  the  influence  that 
the  organizations  which  coloured  people  have 
formed  among  themselves  exert  upon  the  masses 
of  the  people. 

The  average  man  outside  of  the  Negro  race  is 
likely  to  assume  that  the  ten  millions  of  coloured 
people  in  this  country  are  a  mere  disorganized 
and  heterogeneous  collection  of  individuals,  herded 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  31 

together  under  one  statistical  label,  without  head 
or  tail,  and  with  no  conscious  common  purpose. 
This  is  far  from  true.  There  are  certain  common 
interests  that  are  peculiar  to  all  Negroes,  certain 
channels  through  which  it  is  possible  to  touch  and 
influence  the  whole  people.  In  my  study  of  the 
race  in  what  I  may  call  its  organized  capacity,  I 
soon  learned  that  the  most  influential  organization 
among  Negroes  is  the  Negro  church.  I  question 
whether  or  not  there  is  a  group  of  ten  millions 
of  people  anywhere,  not  excepting  the  Catholics, 
that  can  be  so  readily  reached  and  influenced  through 
their  church  organizations  as  the  ten  millions  of 
Negroes  in  the  United  States.  Of  these  millions 
of  black  people  there  is  only  a  very  small  percen- 
tage that  does  not  have  formal  or  informal  connec- 
tion with  some  church.  The  principal  church 
groups  are:  Baptists,  African  Methodists,  African  • 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zionists,  and  Coloured  Metho- 
dists, to  which  I  might  add  about  a  dozen  smaller 
denominations. 

I  began  my  work  of  getting  the  support  of  these 
organizations  by  speaking  (or  lecturing,  as  they  are 
accustomed  to  describe  it)  to  the  coloured  people 
in  the  little  churches  in  the  country  surrounding 
the  school  at  Tuskegee.-  When  later  I  extended 
my  journeys  into  other  and  more  distant  parts  of 


32  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the  country,  I  began  to  get  into  touch  with  the 
leaders  in  the  church  and  to  learn  something  about 
the  kind  and  extent  of  influence  which  these  men 
exercise  through  the  churches  over  the  masses  of 
the  Negro  people. 

It  has  always  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  meet 
and  to  talk  in  a  plain,  straightforward  way  with 
the  common  people  of  my  own  race  wherever  I  have 
been  able  to  meet  them.  But  it  is  in  the  Negro 
churches  that  I  have  had  my  best  opportunities 
for  meeting  and  getting  acquainted  with  them. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  attend  service  in 
Trinity  Church,  Boston,  where  I  heard  Phillips 
Brooks.  I  have  attended  service  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,  where 
I  heard  the  late  Dr.  John  Hall.  I  have  attended 
service  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  London.  I 
have  visited  some  of  the  great  cathedrals  in  Europe 
when  service  was  being  held.  But  not  any  of  these 
services  have  had  for  me  the  real  interest  that 
certain  services  among  my  own  people  have  had. 
Let  me  describe  the  type  of  the  service  that  I  have 
enjoyed  more  than  any  other  in  all  my  experience 
in  attending  church,  whether  in  America  or  Europe. 

In  Macon  County,  Ala.,  where  I  live,  the  coloured 
people  have  a  kind  of  church-service  that  is  called 
an  "all-day  meeting."     The  ideal  season  for  such 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  33 

meetings  is  about  the  middle  of  May.  The  church- 
house  that  I  have  in  mind  is  located  about  ten  miles 
from  town.  To  get  the  most  out  of  the  "all-day 
meeting"  one  should  make  an  early  start,  say  eight 
o'clock.  During  the  drive  one  drinks  in  the  fresh 
fragrance  of  forests  and  wild  flowers.  The  church 
building  is  located  near  a  stream  of  water,  not  far 
from  a  large,  cool  spring,  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
grove  or  primitive  forest.  Here  the  coloured  people 
begin  to  come  together  by  nine  or  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Some  of  them  walk;  most  of  them  drive. 
A  large  number  come  in  buggies,  but  many  use 
the  more  primitive  wagons  or  carts,  drawn  by  mules, 
horses,  or  oxen.  In  these  conveyances  a  whole 
family,  from  the  youngest  to  the  eldest,  make  the 
journey  together.  All  bring  baskets  of  food,  for 
the  "all-day  meeting"  is  a  kind  of  Sunday  picnic 
or  festival.  Preaching,  preceded  by  much  singing, 
begins  at  about  eleven  o'clock.  If  the  building 
is  not  large  enough,  the  services  are  held  out  under 
the  trees.  Sometimes  there  is  but  one  sermon; 
sometimes  there  are  two  or  three  sermons,  if  visiting 
ministers  are  present.  The  sermon  over,  there  is 
more  plantation  singing.  A  collection  is  taken 
—  sometimes  two  collections  —  then  comes  recess 
for  dinner  and  recreation. 

Sometimes  I  have  seen  at  these  "all-day  meet- 


34  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

ings"  as  many  as  three  thousand  people  present. 
No  one  goes  away  hungry.  Large  baskets,  filled 
with  the  most  tempting  spring  chicken  or  fresh 
pork,  fresh  vegetables,  and  all  kinds  of  pies  and 
cakes,  are  then  opened.  The  people  scatter  in 
groups.  Sheets  or  table-cloths  are  spread  on  the 
grass  under  a  tree  near  the  stream.  Here  old 
acquaintances  are  renewed;  relatives  meet  members 
of  the  family  whom  they  have  not  seen  for  months. 
Strangers,  visitors,  every  one  must  be  invited  by 
some  one  else  to  dinner.  Kneeling  on  the  fresh 
grass  or  on  broken  branches  of  trees  surrounding 
the  food,  dinner  is  eaten.  The  animals  are  fed  and 
watered,  and  then  at  about  three  o'clock  there  is 
another  sermon  or  two,  with  plenty  of  singing 
thrown  in;  then  another  collection,  or  perhaps  two. 
In  between  these  sermons  I  am  invited  to  speak, 
and  am  very  glad  to  accept  the  invitation.  At 
about  five  o'clock  the  benediction  is  pronounced 
and  the  thousands  quietly  scatter  to  their  homes 
with  many  good-bys  and  well-wishes.  This,  as  I 
have  said,  is  the  kind  of  church-service  that  I  like 
best.  In  the  opportunities  which  I  have  to  speak  to 
such  gatherings  I  feel  that  I  have  done  some  of 
my  best  work. 

In  carrying  out  the  policy  which  I  formed  early, 
of  making  use  of  every  opportunity  to  speak  to  the 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  35 

masses  of  the  people,  I  have  not  only  visited  country 
churches  and  spoken  at  such  "all-day  meetings" 
as  I  have  just  described,  but  for  years  I  have  made 
it  a  practice  to  attend,  whenever  it  has  been  possible 
for  me  to  do  so,  every  important  ministers'  meeting. 
I  have  also  made  it  a  practice  to  visit  town  and  city 
churches  and  in  this  way  to  get  acquainted  with 
the  ministers  and  meet  the  people. 
^  During  my  many  and  long  campaigns  in  the 
North,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  money  to  carry 
on  Tuskegee  Institute,  it  has  been  a  great  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  to  me,  after  I  have  spoken  in  some 
white  church  or  hall  or  at  some  banquet,  to  go  di- 
rectly to  some  coloured  church  for  a  heart-to-heart 
talk  with  my  own  people.  The  deep  interest  that 
they  have  shown  in  my  work  and  the  warmth  and 
enthusiasm  with  which  coloured  people  invariably 
respond  to  any  one  who  talks  to  them  frankly  and 
sincerely  in  regard  to  matters  that  concern  the  wel- 
fare of  the  race,  make  it  a  pleasure  to  speak  to  them. 
Many  times  on  these  trips  to  the  North  it  has 
happened  that  coloured  audiences  have  waited 
until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  at  night  for  my  coming. 
This  does  not  mean  that  coloured  people  may  not 
attend  the  other  meetings  which  I  address,  but 
means  simply  that  they  prefer  in  most  cases  to  have 
me  to  speak  to  them  alone.     When  at  last  I  have 


36  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

been  able  to  reach  the  church  or  the  hall  where  the 
audience  was  gathered,  it  has  been  such  a  pleasure 
to  meet  them  that  I  have  often  found  myself  stand- 
ing on  my  feet  until  after  twelve  o'clock.  No  one 
thing  has  given  me  more  faith  in  the  future  of  the 
race  than  the  fact  that  Negro  audiences  will  sit 
for  two  hours  or  more  and  listen  with  the  utmost 
attention  to  a  serious  discussion  of  any  subject 
that  has  to  do  with  their  interest  as  a  people. 
This  is  just  as  true  of  the  unlettered  masses  as  it 
is  of  the  more  highly  educated  few. 

Not  long  ago,  for  example,  I  spoke  to  a  large  au- 
dience in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  This  audience  was  composed  for  the  most 
part  of  white  people,  and  the  meeting  continued 
rather  late  into  the  night.  Immediately  after  this 
meeting  I  was  driven  to  the  largest  coloured  church 
in  Cleveland,  where  I  found  an  audience  of  some- 
thing like  twenty-five  hundred  coloured  people 
waiting  patiently  for  my  appearance.  The  church 
building  was  crowded,  and  many  of  those  present, 
I  was  told,  had  been  waiting  for  two  or  three  hours. 

As  I  entered  the  building  an  unusual  scene  pre- 
sented itself.  Each  member  of  the  audience  had 
been  provided  with  a  little  American  flag,  and 
as  I  appeared  upon  the  platform,  the  whole  audience 
rose  to  its  feet  and  began  waving  these  flags.     The 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  37 

reader  can,  perhaps,  imagine  the  picture  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  enthusiastic  people  each  of  whom  is 
wildly  waving  a  flag.  The  scene  was  so  animated 
and  so  unexpected  that  it  made  an  impression  on 
me  that  I  shall  never  forget.  For  an  hour  and  a 
half  I  spoke  to  this  audience,  and,  although  the 
building  was  crowded  until  there  was  apparently 
not  an  inch  of  standing  room  in  it,  scarcely  a  single 
person  left  the  church  during  this  time. 

Another  way  in  which  I  have  gained  the  confi- 
dence and  support  of  the  millions  of  my  race  has 
been  in  meeting  the  religious  leaders  in  their  various 
state  and  national  gatherings.  For  example,  every 
year,  for  a  number  of  years  past,  I  have  been  invited 
to  deliver  an  address  before  the  National  Coloured 
Baptist  Convention,  which  brings  together  four  or 
five  thousand  religious  leaders  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States.  In  a  similar  way  I  meet,  once  in 
four  years,  the  leaders  in  the  various  branches  of 
the  Methodist  Church  during  their  general  con- 
ferences. 

Invitations  to  address  the  different  secret  societies 
in  their  national  gatherings  frequently  come  to  me 
also.  Next  to  the  church,  I  think  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  secret  societies  or  beneficial  orders  bring 
together  greater  numbers  of  coloured  people  and 
exercise  a  larger  influence  upon  the  race  than  any 


38  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

other  kind  of  organization.  One  can  scarcely  shake 
hands  with  a  coloured  man  without  receiving  some 
kind  of  grip  which  identifies  him  as  a  member  of 
one  or  another  of  these  many  organizations. 

I  am  reminded,  in  speaking  of  these  secret  societies, 
of  an  occasion  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  when,  without 
meaning  to  do  so,  I  placed  my  friends  there  in  a 
very  awkward  position.  It  had  been  pretty  widely 
advertised  for  some  weeks  before  that  I  was  to  visit 
the  city.  Among  the  plans  decided  upon  for  my 
reception  was  a  parade  in  which  all  the  secret  and 
beneficial  societies  in  Little  Rock  were  to  take 
part.  Much  was  expected  of  this  parade,  because 
secret  societies  are  numerous  in  Little  Rock,  and 
the  occasions  when  they  can  all  turn  out  together 
are  rare. 

A  few  days  before  I  reached  that  city  some  one 
began  to  make  inquiry  as  to  which  one  of  these 
orders  I  belonged  to.  When  it  finally  became  known 
among  the  rank  and  file  that  I  was  not  a  member 
of  any  of  them,  the  committee  which  was  preparing 
for  the  parade  lost  a  great  deal  of  its  enthusiasm, 
and  a  sort  of  gloom  settled  down  over  the  whole 
proceeding.  The  leading  men  told  me  that  they 
found  it  quite  a  difficult  task  after  that  to  make 
the  people  understand  why  they  were  asked  to 
turn  out  to  honour  a  person  who  was  not  a  member 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  39 

of  any  of  their  organizations.  Besides,  it  seemed 
unnatural  that  a  Negro  should  not  belong  to  some 
kind  of  order.  Somehow  or  other,  however,  matters 
were  finally  straightened  out;  all  the  organizations 
turned  out,  and  a  most  successful  reception  was  the 
result. 

Another  agency  which  exercises  tremendous  power 
among  Negroes  is  the  Negro  press.  Few  if  any 
persons  outside  of  the  Negro  race  understand  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  Negro  newspaper. 
In  all,  there  are  about  two  hundred  newspapers 
published  by  coloured  men  at  different  points 
in  the  United  States.  Many  of  them  have  only  a 
small  circulation  and  are,  therefore,  having  a  hard 
struggle  for  existence;  but  they  are  read  in  their 
local  communities.  Others  have  built  up  a  national 
circulation  and  are  conducted  with  energy  and  in- 
telligence. With  the  exception  of  about  three, 
these  two  hundred  papers  have  stood  loyally  by 
me  in  all  my  plans  and  policies  to  uplift  the  race. 
I  have  called  upon  them  freely  to  aid  me  in  making 
known  my  plans  and  ideas,  and  they  have  always 
responded  in  a  most  generous  fashion  to  all  the 
demands  that  I  have  made  upon  them. 

It  has  been  suggested  to  me  at  different  times 
that  I  should  purchase  a  Negro  newspaper  in  order 
that  I  might  have  an  "organ"  to  make  known  my 


4o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

views  on  matters  concerning  the  policies  and  in- 
terests of  the  race.  Certain  persons  have  suggested 
also  that  I  pay  money  to  certain  of  these  papers 
in  order  to  make  sure  that  they  support  my  views. 

I  confess  that  there  have  frequently  been  times 
when  it  seemed  that  the  easiest  way  to  combat 
some  statement  that  I  knew  to  be  false,  or  to 
I  correct  some  impression  which  seemed  to  me  pecul- 
iarly injurious,  would  be  to  have  a  paper  of  my  own 
or  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  setting  forth  my  own 
views  in  the  editorial  columns  of  some  paper  which 
I  did  not  own. 

I  am  convinced,  however,  that  either  of  these 
two  courses  would  have  proved  fatal.  The  minute 
it  should  become  known  —  and  it  would  be  known 
—  that  I  owned  an'" organ,"  the  other  papers  would 
cease  to  support  me  as  they  now  do.  If  I  should 
attempt  to  use  money  with  some  papers,  I  should 
soon  have  to  use  it  with  all.  If  I  should  pay  for 
the  support  of  newspapers  once,  I  should  have  to 
keep  on  paying  all  the  time.  Very  soon  I  should 
have  around  me,  if  I  should  succeed  in  bribing  them, 
merely  a  lot  of  hired  men  and  no  sincere  and  earnest 
supporters.  Although  I  might  gain  for  myself 
some  apparent  and  temporary  advantage  in  this 
way,  I  should  destroy  the  value  and  influence  of 
the    very    papers    that    support    me.     I    say    this 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  41 

because  if  I  should  attempt  to  hire  men  to  write 
what  they  do  not  themselves  believe,  or  only  half 
believe,  the  articles  or  editorials  they  write  would 
cease  to  have  the  true  ring;  and  when  they  cease  to 
have  the  true  ring,  they  will  exert  little  or  no 
influence. 

So,  when  I  have  encountered  opposition  or  criti- 
cism in  the  press,  I  have  preferred  to  meet  it 
squarely.  Frequently  I  have  been  able  to  profit  by 
these  criticisms  of  the  newspapers.  At  other  times, 
when  I  have  felt  that  I  was  right  and  that  those 
who  criticised  me  were  wrong,  I  have  preferred  to 
wait  and  let  the  results  show.  Thus,  even  when 
we  differed  with  one  another  on  minor  points,  I 
have  usually  succeeded  in  gaining  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  editors  of  the  different  papers 
in  regard  to  those  matters  and  policies  which  seemed 
to  me  really  important. 

In  travelling  throughout  the  United  States  I 
have  met  the  Negro  editors.  Many  of  them  have 
been  to  Tuskegee.  It  has  taken  me  twenty  years 
to  get  acquainted  with  them  and  to  know  them 
intimately.  In  dealing  with  these  men  I  have  not 
found  it  necessary  to  hold  them  at  arm's-length. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  in  the  habit  of  speaking  with 
them  frankly  and  openly  in  regard  to  my  plans. 
A  number  of  the  men  who  own  and  edit  Negro  news- 


42  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

papers  are  graduates  or  former  students  of  the 
Tuskegee  Institute.  I  go  into  their  offices  and  I 
go  to  their  homes.  We  know  one  another;  they 
are  my  friends,  and  I  am  their  friend. 

In  dealing  with  newspaper  people,  whether  they 
are  white  or  black,  there  is  no  way  of  getting  their 
sympathy  and  support  like  that  of  actually  knowing 
the  individual  men,  of  meeting  and  talking  with 
them  frequently  and  frankly,  and  of  keeping  them 
in  touch  with  everything  you  do  or  intend  to  do. 
Money  cannot  purchase  or  control  this  kind  of 
friendship. 

Whenever  I  am  in  a  town  or  city  where  Negro 
newspapers  are  published,  I  make  it  a  point  to  see 
the  editors,  to  go  to  their  offices,  or  to  invite  them 
to  visit  Tuskegee.  Thus  we  keep  in  close,  constant, 
and  sympathetic  touch  with  one  another.  When 
these  papers  write  editorials  endorsing  any  project 
that  I  am  interested  in,  the  editors  speak  with 
authority  and  with  intelligence  because  of  our  close 
personal  relations.  There  is  no  more  generous  and 
helpful  class  of  men  among  the  Negro  race  in 
America  to-day  than  the  owners  and  editors  of 
Negro  newspapers. 

Many  times  I  have  been  asked  how  it  is  that  I 
have  secured  the  confidence  and  good  wishes  of 
so  large  a  number  of  the  white  people  of  the  South. 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  43 

My  answer  in  brief  is  that  I  have  tried  to  be  per- 
fectly frank  and  straightforward  at  all  times  in 
my  relations  with  them.  Sometimes  they  have 
opposed  my  actions,  sometimes  they  have  not, 
but  I  have  never  tried  to  deceive  them.  There 
is  no  people  in  the  world  which  more  quickly 
recognizes  and  appreciates  the  qualities  of  frankness 
and  sincerity,  whether  they  are  exhibited  in  a  friend 
or  in  an  opponent,  in  a  white  man  or  in  a  black  man, 
than  the  white  people  of  the  South. 

In  my  experience  in  dealing  with  men  of  my  race 
I  have  found  that  there  is  a  class  that  has  gained 
a  good  deal  of  fleeting  popularity  for  possessing 
what  was  supposed  to  be  courage  in  cursing  and 
abusing  all  classes  of  Southern  white  people  on  all 
possible  occasions.  But,  as  I  have  watched  the 
careers  of  this  class  of  Negroes,  in  practically  every 
case  their  popularity  and  influence  with  the  masses 
of  coloured  people  have  not  been  lasting.  There 
are  few  races  of  people  the  masses  of  whom  are 
endowed  with  more  common-sense  than  the  Negro, 
and  in  the  long  run  these  common  people  see  things 
and  men  pretty  much  as  they  are. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  have  always  been  in 
every  Southern  community  a  certain  number  of 
coloured  men  who  have  sought  to  gain  the  friend- 
ship of  the  white  people  around  them  in  ways  that 


44  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

were  more  or  less  dishonest.  For  a  number  of  years 
atter  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  for  example,  it 
was  natural  that  practically  all  the  Negroes  should 
be  Republicans  in  politics.  There  were,  however, 
in  nearly  every  community  in  the  South,  one  or 
two  coloured  men  who  posed  as  Democrats.  They 
thought  that  by  pretending  to  favour  the  Demo- 
cratic party  they  might  make  themselves  popular 
with  their  white  neighbours  and  thus  gain  some 
temporary  advantage.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
the  white  people  saw  through  their  pretences  and 
did  not  have  the  respect  for  them  that  they  had 
for  the  Negro  who  honestly  voted  with  the  party 
to  which  he  felt  that  he  belonged. 

I  remember  hearing  a  prominent  white  Democrat 
remark  not  long  ago  that  in  the  old  days  whenever 
a  Negro  Democrat  entered  his  office  he  always  took 
a  tight  grasp  upon  his  pocket-book.  I  mention  these 
facts  because  I  am  certain  that  wherever  I  have 
gained  the  confidence  of  the  Southern  people  I 
have  done  so,  not  by  opposing  them  and  not  by 
truckling  to  them,  but  by  acting  in  a  straightfor- 
ward manner,  always  seeking  their  good-will, 
but  never  seeking  it  upon  false  pretences. 

I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  talk  to  the  Southern  white 
people  concerning  what  I  might  call  their  short- 
comings toward  the  Negro  rather  than  talk  about 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  45 

them.  In  the  last  analysis,  however,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  sympathy  and  support  of  so 
large  a  number  of  Southern  white  people  because 
I  have  tried  to  recognize  and  to  face  conditions  as 
they  actually  are,  and  have  honestly  tried  to  work 
with  the  best  white  people  in  the  South  to  bring 
about  a  better  condition. 

From  the  first  I  have  tried  to  secure  the  confi- 
dence and  good-will  of  every  white  citizen  in  my 
own  county.  My  experience  teaches  me  that  if 
a  man  has  little  or  no  influence  with  those  by  whose 
side  he  lives,  as  a  rule  there  is  something  wrong 
with  him.  The  best  way  to  influence  the  Southern 
white  man  in  your  community,  I  have  found,  is 
to  convince  him  that  you  are  of  value  to  that 
community.  For  example,  if  you  are  a  teacher, 
the  best  way  to  get  the  influence  of  your  white 
neighbours  is  to  convince  them  that  you  are  teaching 
something  that  will  make  the  pupils  that  you  edu- 
cate able  to  do  something  better  and  more  useful 
than  they  would  otherwise  be  able  to  do;  to  show, 
in  other  words,  that  the  education  which  they  get 
adds  something  of  value  to  the  community. 

In  my  own  case,  I  have  attempted  from  the 
beginning  to  let  every  white  citizen  in  my  own  town 
see  that  I  am  as  much  interested  in  the  common, 
every-day  affairs  of  life  as  himself      I  tried  to  let 


46  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

them  see  that  the  presence  of  Tuskegee  Institute 
in  the  community  means  better  farms  and  gardens, 
good  housekeeping,  good  schools,  law  and  order. 
As  soon  as  the  average  white  man  is  convinced  that 
the  education  of  the  Negro  makes  of  him  a  citizen 
who  is  not  always  "up  in  the  air,"  but  one  who  can 
apply  his  education  to  the  things  in  which  every 
citizen  is  interested,  much  of  opposition,  doubt, 
or  indifference  to  Negro  education  will  disappear. 

During  all  the  years  that  I  have  lived  in  Macon 
County,  Ala.,  I  have  never  had  the  slightest  trouble 
in  either  registering  or  casting  my  vote  at  any  elec- 
tion. Every  white  person  in  the  county  knows 
that  I  am  going  to  vote  in  a  way  that  will  help 
the  county  in  which  I  live. 

Many  nights  I  have  been  up  with  the  sheriff  of 
my  county,  in  consultation  concerning  law  and  order, 
seeking  to  assist  him  in  getting  hold  of  and  freeing 
the  community  of  criminals.  More  than  that, 
Tuskegee  Institute  has  constantly  sought,  directly 
and  indirectly,  to  impress  upon  the  twenty-five 
or  thirty  thousand  coloured  people  in  the  surround- 
ing county  the  importance  of  cooperating  with  the 
officers  of  the  law  in  the  detection  and  apprehension 
of  criminals.  The  result  is  that  we  have  one  olt 
the  most  orderly  communities  in  the  state.  I 
do  not  believe  that  there  is  any  county  in  the  state, 


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BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  47 

for  example,  where  the  prohibition  laws  are  so 
strictly  enforced  as  in  Macon  County,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  Negroes  in  this  county  so  largely 
outnumber  the  whites. 

Whatever  influence  I  have  gained  with  the  North-  I 
ern  white  people  has  come  about  from  the  fact, 
I  think,  that  they  feel  that  I  have  tried  to  use  their 
gifts  honestly  and  in  a  manner  to  bring  about  real 
and  lasting  results.  I  learned  long  ago  that  in 
education  as  in  other  things  nothing  but  honest 
work  lasts;  fraud  and  sham  are  bound  to  be  detected 
in  the  end.  I  have  learned,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  if  one  does  a  good,  honest  job,  even  though  it 
may  be  done  in  the  middle  of  the  night  when  no 
eyes  see  but  one's  own,  the  results  will  just  as  surely 
come  to  light. 

My  experience  has  taught  me,  for  example,  that 
if  there  is  a  filthy  basement  or  a  dirty  closet  any- 
where in  the  remotest  part  of  the  school  grounds 
it  will  be  discovered.  On  the  other  hand,  if  every 
basement  or  every  closet  —  no  matter  how  remote 
from  the  centre  of  the  school  activities  —  is 
kept  clean,  some  one  will  find  it  and  commend 
the  care  and  the  thoughtfulness  that  kept  it  clean. 

It  has  always  been  my  policy  to  make  visitors 
to  Tuskegee  feel  that  they  are  seeing  more  than 
they   expected   to   see.     When    a   person   has   con- 


48  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

tributed,  say,  #20,000  for  the  erection  of  a  building, 
I  have  tried  to  provide  a  larger  building,  a  bettef 
building,  than  the  donor  expected  to  see.  This  I 
have  found  can  be  brought  about  only  by  keeping 
1  one's  eyes  constantly  on  all  the  small  details.  I 
shall  never  forget  a  remark  made  to  me  by  Mr. 
John  D.  Rockefeller  when  I  was  spending  an  even- 
ing at  his  house.  It  was  to  this  effect:  "Always 
be  master  of  the  details  of  your  work;  never  have  • 
too  many  loose  outer  edges  or  fringes." 

Then,  in  dealing  with  Northern  people,  I  have 
always  let  them  know  that  I  did  not  want  to  get 
away  from  my  own  race;  that  I  was  just  as  proud 
of  being  a  Negro  as  they  were  of  being  white  people. 
No  one  can  see  through  a  sham  more  quickly, 
whether  it  be  in  speech  or  in  dress,  than  the  hard- 
headed  Northern  business  man. 

I  once  knew  a  fine  young  coloured  man  who  nearly 
ruined  himself  by  pretending  to  be  something  that 
he  was  not.  This  young  man  was  sent  to  England 
for  several  months  of  study.  When  he  returned  he 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  how  to  talk.  He  tried 
to  ape  the  English  accent,  the  English  dress,  the 
English  walk.  I  was  amused  to  notice  sometimes, 
when  he  was  off  his  guard,  how  he  got  his  English 
pronunciation  mixed  with  the  ordinary  American 
accent  which  he  had  used  all  of  his  life.     So  one 


BUILDING  A  SCHOOL  49 

day  I  quietly  called  him  aside  and  said  to  him:  "My 
friend,  you  are  ruining  yourself.  Just  drop  all 
those  frills  and  be  yourself."  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  he  had  sense  enough  to  take  the  advice  in  the 
right  spirit,  and  from  that  time  on  he  was  a  differ- 
ent man. 

The  most  difficult  and  try:ug  of  the  classes  of 
persons  with  which  I  am  brought  in  contact  is  the 
coloured  man  or  woman  who  is  ashamed  of  his  or 
her  colour,  ashamed  of  his  or  her  race  and,  because 
of  this  fact,  is  always  in  a  bad  temper.  I  have  had 
opportunities,  such  as  few  coloured  men  have  had, 
of  meeting  and  getting  acquainted  with  many 
of  the  best  white  people,  North  and  South.  This 
has  never  led  me  to  desire  to  get  away  from  my  own 
people.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  always  returned  to 
my  own  people  and  my  own  work  with  renewed 
interest. 

I  have  never  at  any  time  asked  or  expected  that 
any  one,  in  dealing  with  me,  should  overlook  or 
forget  that  I  am  a  Negro.  On  the  contrary,  I 
have  always  recognized  that,  when  any  special 
honour  was  conferred  upon  me,  it  was  conferred 
not  in  spite  of  my  being  a  Negro,  but  because  I  am 
a  Negro,  and  because  I  have  persistently  identified 
myself  with  every  interest  and  with  every  phase  of 
the  life  of  my  own  people. 


50  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Looking  back  over  the  twenty-five  and  more 
years  that  have  passed  since  that  time,  I  realize, 
as  I  did  not  at  that  time,  how  the  better  part  of 
my  education  —  the  education  that  I  got  after  leav- 
ing school  — ■  has  been  in  the  effort  to  work  out  those 
problems  in  a  way  that  would  gain  the  interest  and 
the  sympathy  of  all  three  of  the  classes  directly 
concerned  —  the  t  Jiithern  white  man,  the  Northern 
white  man,  and  the  Negro. 

In  order  to  gain  consideration  from  these  three 
classes  for  what  I  was  trying  to  do  I  have  had  to 
enter  sympathetically  into  the  three  different  points 
of  view  entertained  by  those  three  classes;  I  have 
had  to  consider  in  detail  how  the  work  that  I  was 
trying  to  do  was  going  to  affect  the  interests  of  all 
three.  To  do  this,  and  at  the  same  time  continue 
to  deal  frankly  and  honestly  with  each  class,  has 
been  indeed  a  difficult  and  at  times  a  puzzling 
task.  It  has  not  always  been  easy  to  stick  to  my 
work  and  keep  myself  free  from  the  distracting  in- 
fluences of  narrow  and  factional  points  of  view; 
but,  looking  back  on  it  all  after  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, I  can  see  that  it  has  been  worth  what  it  cost. 


CHAPTER  III 

SOME    EXCEPTIONAL    MEN    AND    WHAT 
I    HAVE    LEARNED    FROM    THEM 

t  B  AHERE  are  some  opportunities  that  come  to 
U  the  boy  or  girl  who  is  born  poor  that  the 
"^  boy  or  girl  who  is  born  rich  does  not  have. 
In  the  same  way  there  are  some  advantages  in 
belonging  to  a  disadvantaged  race.  The  individual 
or  the  race  which  has  to  face  peculiar  hardships  and 
to  overcome  unusual  difficulties  gains  an  experience 
of  men  and  things  and  gets  into  close  and  intimate 
touch  with  life  in  a  way  that  is  not  possible  to  the 
man  or  woman  in  ordinary  circumstances. 

In  the  old  slavery  days,  when  any  of  the  white 
folks  were  a  little  uncertain  about  the  quality  of  a 
new  family  that  had  moved  into  the  neighbourhood, 
they  always  had  one  last  resource  for  determining 
the  character  and  the  status  of  the  new  family. 
When  in  doubt,  they  could  always  rely  on  old  "Aunt 
Jenny."  After  "Aunt  Jenny"  had  visited  the  new 
family  and  returned  with  her  report,  the  question 

si 


52  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

was  settled.  Her  decision  was  final,  because  "Aunt 
Jenny"  knew.  The  old-fashioned  house  servants 
gained,  through  their  peculiar  experiences,  a  keen 
sense  for  what  was  called  the  "quality." 

In  freedom  also  the  Negro  has  had  special  oppor- 
tunities for  finding  out  the  character  and  the  quality 
of  the  white  people  among  whom  he  lives.  If 
there  is  a  man  in  the  community  who  is  habitually 
kind  and  considerate  to  the  humblest  people  about 
him,  the  coloured  people  know  about  that  man. 
On  the  contrary,  if  there  is  a  man  in  that  community 
who  is  unfair  and  unjust  in  his  dealings  with  them, 
the  coloured  people  know  that  man  also. 

In  their  own  way  and  among  themselves  the 
coloured  people  in  the  South  still  have  the  habit 
of  weighing  and  passing  judgment  on  the  white 
people  in  their  community;  and,  nine  times  out  of 
ten,  their  opinion  of  a  man  is  pretty  accurate.  A 
man  who  can  always  be  counted  on  to  go  out  of  his 
way  to  assist  and  protect  the  members  of  an  un- 
popular race,  and  who  is  not  afraid  or  ashamed  to 
show  that  he  is  interested  in  the  efforts  of  the  col- 
oured people  about  him  to  improve  their  condition, 
is  pretty  likely  to  be  a  good  citizen  in  other  respects. 

In  the  average  Southern  community,  also,  it  is 
almost  always  the  best  people,  those  who  are  most 
highly  cultured   and   religious,  who  know  the  col- 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  53 

oured  people  best.  It  is  the  best  white  people  who 
go  oftenest  into  the  Negro  churches  or  teach  in  the 
Negro  Sunday-schools.  It  is  to  individual  white 
men  of  this  better  class  that  the  average  coloured 
people  go  most  frequently  for  counsel  and  advice 
when  they  are  in  trouble 

The  fact  that  I  was  born  a  Negro,  and  the  further 
fact  that  I  have  all  my  life  been  engaged  in  a  kind 
of  work  that  was  intended  to  uplift  the  masses  of 
my  people,  has  brought  me  in  contact  with  many 
exceptional  persons,  both  North  and  South.  For 
example,  it  was  because  I  was  a  poor  boy  and  a  Negro 
that  I  found  my  way  to  Hampton  Institute,  where  I 
came  under  the  influence  of  General  Armstrong,  who^^ 
as  teacher  and  friend,  has  had  a  larger  influence/ 
upon  my  life  than  any  other  person  I  have  ever- 
known,  except  my  mother.  As  it  was  in  my  boy- 
hood, so  it  has  been  in  a  greater  degree  in  my  later 
life;  because  of  the  work  I  was  trying  to  do  for  the 
Negro  race  I  have  constantly  been  brought  into  con- 
tact with  men  of  the  very  highest  type,  generous, 
high-minded,  enlightened,  and  free.  As  I  have 
already  suggested,  a  large  part  of  my  education  has 
been  gained  by  my  personal  contact  with  these 
exceptional    men. 

There  have  been  times  in  my  life  when   I  fear  that 
I  should  have  lost  courage  to    go  forward  if  I  had 


54  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

not  had  constantly  before  me  the  example  of  other 
men,  some  of  them  obscure  and  almost  unknown 
outside  of  the  communities  in  which  they  lived, 
whose  patient,  unwavering  cheerfulness  and  good- 
will, in  spite  of  difficulties,  have  been  a  continued 
inspiration  to  me. 

On  my  way  to  Tuskegee  for  the  first  time  I  met 
one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the  type  of  man  I 
have  tried  to  describe.  He  was  a  railroad  con- 
ductor and  his  name  was  Capt.  Isaiah  C.  Howard. 
For  many  years  he  had  charge  of  a  train  on  the 
Western  Railroad  of  Alabama,  between  Mont- 
gomery and  Atlanta.  I  do  not  know  where  Captain 
Howard  got  his  education,  or  how  much  he  had 
studied  books.  I  do  know  that  he  was  born  in  the 
South  and  had  spent  all  his  life  there.  During  a 
period  of  twenty  years  I  rarely,  if  ever,  met  a  higher 
type  of  the  true  gentleman,  North  or  South. 

I  recall  one  occasion  in  particular  when  I  was  on 
his  train  between  Atlanta  and  Montgomery  during 
the  Christmas  holiday  season,  when  the  rougher 
and  more  ignorant  of  my  race  usually  travel 
in  large  numbers,  and  when  owing  to  the 
general  license  that  has  always  prevailed  during 
the  holiday  season,  a  certain  class  of  coloured 
people  are  likely  to  be  more  or  less  under  the  in- 
fluence  of  whiskey. 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  55 

After  a  time  a  disturbance  arose  in  the  crowd 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  car.  When  Captain  Howard 
appeared,  some  of  the  men  who  had  been  drinking 
spoke  to  him  in  a  way  that  most  men,  white  or 
black,  would  have  resented.  In  the  case  of  some 
men,  the  language  these  Negroes  used  might  easily 
have  furnished  an  occasion  for  a  shooting,  the  con- 
sequences of  which  it  was  not  difficult  for  me  to 
picture  to  myself.  I  was  deeply  touched  to  see 
how,  like  a  wise  and  patient  father,  Captain  Howard 
handled  these  rough  fellows.  He  spoke  to  them 
calmly,  without  the  least  excitement  in  his  voice  or 
manner,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  had  obtained 
almost  complete  order  in  the  car.  After  that  he  gave 
them  a  few  words  of  very  sensible  advice  which  at 
once  won  their  respect  and  gratitude,  because  they 
understood  the  spirit  that  prompted  it. 

During  all  the  time  that  I  travelled  with  him  I 
never  saw  Captain  Howard,  even  under  the  most 
trying  circumstances,  lose  his  temper  or  grow  im- 
patient with  any  class  of  coloured  people  that  he 
had  to  deal  with.  During  the  long  trips  that  I 
used  to  make  with  him,  whenever  he  had  a  little 
leisure  time,  he  would  drop  down  into  the  seat  by 
by  my  side  and  we  would  talk  together,  sometimes 
for  an  hour  at  a  time,  on  the  condition  and  pros- 
pects   of    the    Negro    in    the   South.     I   remember 


.,  56  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

that  he  had  very  definite  ideas  in  regard  to  the 
white  man's  duty  and  responsibility,  and  more 
than  once  he  expressed  to  me  his  own  reasons  for 
believing  that  the  Negro  should  be  treated  with 
patience  and  with  justice.  He  used  frequently 
to  express  the  fear  that,  by  allowing  himself  to  get 
into  the  habit  of  treating  Negroes  with  harshness, 
the  white  man  in  the  South  would  be  injured  more 
than  the  Negro. 

I  have  spoken  of  Captain  Howard  at  some  length 
because  he  represents  a  distinct  class  of  white 
people  in  the  South,  of  whom  an  increasing  number 
may  be  found  in  nearly  every  Southern  community. 
He  possessed  in  a  very  high  degree  those  qualities 
of  kindness,  self-control,  and  general  good  breeding 
which  belong  to  the  real  aristocracy  of  the  South. 
In  his  talks  with  me  he  frequently  explained  that 
he  was  no  "professional"  lover  of  the  Negro;  that, 
in  fact,  he  had  no  special  feeling  for  the  Negro  or 
against  him,  but  was  interested  in  seeing  fair  play 
for  every  race  and  every  individual.  He  said  that 
his  real  reason  for  wanting  to  give  the  Negro  the 
same  chance  that  other  races  have  was  that  he 
loved  the  South,  and  he  knew  that  there  could  be 
no  permanent  prosperity  unless  the  lowest  and 
poorest  portion  of  the  community  was  treated  with 
the  same  justice  as  the  highest  and  most  powerful. 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  57 

I  count  it  a  part  of  my  good  fortune  to  have  been 
thrown,  early  in  my  life  in  Alabama,  in  contact  with 
such  a  man  as  Captain  Howard.  After  knowing 
him  I  said  to  myself:  "If,  under  the  circumstances, 
a  white  man  can  learn  to  be  fair  to  my  race  instead 
of  hating  it,  a  black  man  ought  to  be  able  to  re- 
turn the  compliment." 

In  connection  with  my  work  in  Alabama,  I  early 
made  the  acquaintance  of  another  Southern  white 
man,  also  an  Alabamian  by  birth  but  of  a  different 
type,  a  man  of  education  and  high  social  and 
official  standing  —  the  late  J.  L.  M.  Curry. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  know  Doctor  Curry  well 
during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  He  had 
fought  on  the  side  of  the  Confederacy  during  the 
Civil  War,  he  had  served  as  a  college  professor  and 
as  United  States  Minister  to  Spain,  and  had  held 
other  high  public  positions.  More  than  that,  he 
represented,  in  his  personal  feelings  and  ways  of 
thinking,  all  that  was  best  in  the  life  of  the  Southern 
white   people. 

Notwithstanding  the  high  positions  he  had  held 
in  social  and  official  life,  Doctor  Curry  gave  his 
latter  years  to  the  cause  of  education  among  the 
masses  of  white  and  coloured  people  in  the  South, 
and  was  never  happier  than  when  engaged  in  this 
Work. 


58  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  met  Doctor  Curry  for  the  first  time,  in  a  busi- 
ness way,  at  Montgomery,  Ala.  While  I  was  in 
the  Capitol  building  I  happened  to  be,  for  a  few 
moments,  in  a  room  adjoining  that  in  which  Doctor 
I  Curry  and  some  other  gentlemen  were  talking, 
and  could  not  avoid  overhearing  their  conversation. 
They  were  speaking  about  Negro  education.  One 
of  the  state  officials  expressed  some  doubt  about 
the  propriety  of  a  Southern  gentleman  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  education  of  the  Negro.  While 
I  am  not  able  to  give  his  exact  words,  Doctor  Curry 
replied  in  substance  that  he  did  not  believe  that  he 
or  any  one  else  had  ever  lost  anything,  socially 
or  in  any  other  way,  on  account  of  his  connection 
with    Negro    education. 

"On  the  other  hand,"  Doctor  Curry  continued, 
"I  believe  that  Negro  education  has  done  a  great 
deal  more  for  me  than  I  have  ever  been  able  to  do 
for  Negro  education." 

Then  he  went  on  to  say  that  he  had  never  visited 
a  Negro  school  or  performed  a  kindly  act  for  a 
Negro  man,  woman,  or  child,  that  he  himself  was 
not  made  stronger  and  better  for  it. 

Immediately  after  the  Civil  War,  he  said,  he 
had  been  bitterly  opposed  to  every  movement  that 
had  been  proposed  to  educate  the  Negro.  'After 
he  came  to  visit  some  of  the  coloured  schools,  how- 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  59 

ever,  and  saw  for  himself  the  struggles  that  the 
coloured  people  were  making  to  get  an  education, 
his  prejudice  had  changed  into  sympathy  and 
admiration. 

As  far  as  my  own  experience  goes  —  and  I  have 
heard  the  same  thing  said  by  others  —  there  is  no 
gentler,  kindlier,  or  more  generous  type  of  man 
anywhere  than  those  Southern  white  men  who, 
born  and  bred  to  those  racial  and  sectional  differences 
which,  after  the  Civil  War,  were  mingled  with  and 
intensified  by  the  bitterness  of  poverty  and  defeat, 
have  struggled  up  to  the  point  where  they  feel 
nothing  but  kindness  to  the  people  of  all  races  and 
both  sections.  It  is  much  easier  for  those  who 
shared  in  the  victory  of  the  Civil  War  —  I  mean 
the  Northern  white  man  and  the  Negro  —  to 
emancipate  themselves  from  racial  and  sectional 
narrowness. 

There  is  another  type  of  white  man  in  the  South 
who  has  aided  me  in  getting  a  broader  and  more 
practical  conception  of  my  work.  I  refer  to  the 
man  who  has  no  special  sentiment  for  or  against 
the  Negro,  but  appreciates  the  importance  of  the 
Negro  race  as  a  commercial  asset  —  a  man  like 
Mr.  John  M.  Parker,  of  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Parker 
is  the  president  of  the  Southern  Industrial  Congress, 
and  is  one  of  the  largest  planters  in  the  Gulf  states. 


60  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

His  firm  in  New  Orleans,  I  understand,  buys  and 
sells  more  cotton  than  any  other  firm  in  the  world. 
Mr.  Parker  sees  more  clearly  than  any  white  man 
in  the  South  with  whom  I  have  talked,  the  fact 
that  it  is  important  to  the  commercial  progress  of 
the  country  that  the  Negro  should  be  treated  with 
justice  in  the  courts,  in  business,  and  in  all  the 
affairs  of  life.  He  realizes  also  that,  in  order  that 
the  Negro  may  have  an  incentive  to  work  regularly, 
he  must  have  his  wants  increased;  and  this  can 
be   brought   about  only  through   education. 

I  have  heard  many  addresses  to  coloured  people 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  I  have  never  heard 
words  more  sensible,  practical,  and  to  the  point 
from  the  lips  of  any  man  than  those  of  an  address 
which  Mr.  Parker  delivered  before  nearly  a  thousand 
Negro  farmers  at  one  of  the  annual  Negro  Con- 
ferences at  the  Tuskegee  Institute.  Mr.  Parker 
has  for  years  been  a  large  employer  of  Negro  labour 
on  his  plantation.  He  was  thus  able  to  speak  to 
the  farmers  simply  and  frankly,  and,  even  though 
he  told  them  some  rather  unpleasant  truths,  the 
audience  understood  and  appreciated  not  only  what 
was  said,  but  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  uttered. 

The  hope  of  the  South,  so  far  as  the  interests  of' 
the  Negro  are  concerned,  rests  very  largely  uponi 
men  like  Mr.  Parker,  who  see  the  close  connection- 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  61 

between  labour,  industry,  education,  and  political 
institutions,  and  have  learned  to  face  the  race  prob- 
lem in  a  large  and  tolerant  spirit,  and  are  seeking 
to  solve  it  in  a  practical  way. 

A  quite  different  type  of  man  with  whom  I  have 
been  thrown  in  frequent  contact  is  Col.  Henry 
Watterson,  of  the  Louisville  Courier- Journal. 
Colonel  Watterson  seems  to  me  to  represent  the 
Southern  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  a  man  of 
generous  impulses,  high  ideals,  and  gracious  manner. 
I  have  had  frequent  and  long  conversations  with 
him  about  the  Negro  and  about  conditions  in  the 
South.  If  there  is  anywhere  a  man  who  has 
broader  or  more  liberal  ideas  concerning  the  Negro, 
or  any  undeveloped  race,  I  have  not  met  him. 

A  few  years  ago,  when  a  meeting  had  been  ar- 
ranged at  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York,  in  order  to  in- 
terest the  public  in  the  work  of  our  school  at  Tus- 
kegee,  we  were  disappointed  in  securing  a  distin- 
guished speaker  from  the  South  who  had  promised 
to  be  present.  At  the  last  moment  the  committee 
in  charge  telegraphed  to  Colonel  Watterson. 
Although(because  of  the  death  of  one  of  his  children) 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  not  to  speak  again  in 
public  for  some  time,  Colonel  Watterson  went  to 
New  York  from  Louisville  and  made  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  speeches  in  behalf  of  the  Negro  that 


62  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  have  ever  heard.  He  told  me  at  the  time  that 
nothing  but  his  interest  in  the  work  that  we  were 
trying  to  do  at  Tuskegee  would  have  induced  him 
to  leave   home   at   that   time. 

Whenever  I  have  been  tempted  to  grow  embit- 
tered or  discouraged  about  conditions  in  the  South, 
my  acquaintance  with  such  men  as  Mr.  Parker 
and  Colonel  Watterson  has  given  me  new  strength 
and  increased   my  faith. 

I  have  been  fortunate  also  in  the  coloured  men 
with  whom  I  have  been  associated.  There  is  a 
class  of  Negroes  in  the  South  who  are  just  as  much 
interested  as  the  best  white  people  in  the  welfare 
of  the  communities  in  which  they  live.  They  are 
just  as  much  opposed  as  the  best  white  people  to 
anything  that  tends  to  stir  up  strife  between  the 
races.  But  there  are  two  kinds  of  coloured  people, 
just  as  there  are  two  kinds  of  white  people. 

There  is  a  class  of  coloured  people  who  are 
narrow  in  their  sympathies,  short-sighted  in  their 
views,  and  bitter  in  their  prejudices  against  the  white 
people.  When  I  first  came  to  Alabama  I  had  to 
decide  whether  I  could  unite  with  this  class  in  a 
general  crusade  of  denunciation  against  the  white 
people  of  the  South,  in  order  to  create  sympathy 
in  the  North  for  the  work  that  I  was  seeking  to 
carry   on,   or   whether   I   would   consider  the. -real 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  63 

interests  of  the  masses  of  my  race,  and  seek  to 
preserve  and  promote  the  good  relations  that  al- 
ready existed  between  the  races. 

I  do  not  deny  that  I  was  frequently  tempted, 
during  the  early  years  of  my  work,  to  join  in  the 
general  denunciation  of  the  evils  and  injustice  that 
I  saw  about  me.  But  when  I  thought  the  matter 
over,  I  saw  that  such  a  course  would  accomplish 
no  good  and  that  it  would  do  a  great  deal  of  harm. 
For  one  thing,  it  would  serve  only  to  mislead  the 
masses  of  my  own  race  in  regard  to  the  opportunities 
that  existed  right  about  them.  Besides  that,  I 
saw  that  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  had  no 
disposition  to  carry  on  any  general  war  against  the 
white  people.  What  they  wanted  was  the  help 
and  encouragement  of  their  white  neighbours  in 
their  efforts  to  get  an  education  and  to  improve 
themselves. 

Among  the  coloured  men  who  saw  all  this  quite 
as  clearly  as  myself  was  Rufus  Herron,  of  Camp 
Hill,  Ala.  He  was  born  in  slavery  and  had  had 
almost  no  school  advantages,  but  he  was  not  lacking 
in  practical  wisdom  and  he  was  a  leader  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived.  Some  years  ago, 
after  he  had  harvested  his  cotton  crop  he  called  to 
see  me  at  the  Tuskegee  Institute.  He  said  that 
he  had  sold  all  of  his  cotton,  had  got  a  good  price 


64  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

for  it,  had  paid  all  his  debts  for  the  year,  and  had 
twenty  dollars  remaining.  He  handed  me  ten  dol- 
lars and  asked  me  to  use  it  in  the  education  of  a 
student  at  Tuskegee.  He  returned  to  his  home  and 
gave  the  other  ten  to  the  teacher  of  the  white 
school  in  his  vicinity,  and  asked  him  to  use  it  in 
the  education  of  a  white  student. 

Since  that  day  I  have  come  to  know  Rufus  Her- 
ron  well.  He  never  misses  a  session  of  the  annual 
Tuskegee  Negro  conference.  He  is  the  kind  of 
man  that  one  likes  to  listen  to  because  he  always 
says  something  that  goes  straight  to  the  point, 
and  after  he  has  covered  the  subject  he  stops.  I 
do  not  think  that  I  have  ever  talked  with  him  that 
he  did  not  have  something  to  suggest  in  regard  to 
the  material,  educational,  and  moral  improvement 
of  the  people,  or  something  that  might  promote 
better  relations  between  white  people  and  black 
people.  If  there  is  a  white  man,  North  or  South, 
that  has  more  love  for  his  community  or  his  country 
than  Rufus  Herron,  it  has  not  been  my  good  for- 
tune to  meet  him.  In  his  feelings  and  ambitions 
he  also  is  what  I  have  called  an  aristocrat.    . 

I  have  no  disposition  to  deny  to  any  one,  black 
or  white,  the  privilege  of  speaking  out  and  pro- 
testing against  wrong  and  injustice,  whenever 
and    wherever    they  choose  to  do  so.     I  would  do 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  65 

injustice  to  the  facts  and  to  the  masses  of  my  people 
in  the  South,  however,  if  I  did  not  point  out  how 
much  more  useful  a  man  like  Rufus  Herron  has 
made  his  life  than  the  man  who  spends  his  time  and 
makes  a  profession  of  going  about  talking  about 
his  "rights"  and  stirring  up  bitterness  between  the 
white  people  and  coloured  people.  The  salvation 
of  the  Negro  race  in  America  is  to  be  worked  out, 
for  the  most  part,  not  by  abstract  argument  and 
not  by  mere  denunciation  of  wrong,  but  by  actual 
achievement   in   constructive   work. 

In  Nashville  there  is  another  coloured  man  — 
a  banker,  a  man  of  education,  wealth,  and  culture. 
James  C.  Napier  is  about  the  same  age  as  Rufus 
Herron.  I  have  been  closely  associated  with  him 
for  twenty  years.  I  have  been  with  him  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South;  I  have  worked  with  him 
in  conventions,  and  I  have  talked  with  him  in  private 
in  my  home  and  in  his  home.  During  all  the  years 
that  I  have  known  him  I  have  never  heard  Mr. 
Napier  express  a  narrow  or  bitter  thought  toward 
the  white  race.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  shown  him- 
self anxious  to  give  publicity  to  the  best  deeds  of  the 
white  people  rather  than  the  worst.  During  the 
greater  part  of  my  life  I  have  done  my  work  in 
association  with  such  men  as  he.  There  is  no  part 
of  the  United  States  in  which  I  have  not  met  some 


66  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

of  this  type  of  coloured  men.  I  honour  such  men  all 
the  more  because,  had  they  chosen  to  do  so,  they 
could  easily  have  made  themselves  and  those  about 
them  continually  miserable  by  dwelling  upon  the 
mean  things  which  people  say  about  the  race  or  the 
injustices  which  are  so  often  a  part  of  the  life  of 
the  Negro. 

Let  me  add  that,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
see,  there  is  no  real  reason  why  a  Negro  in  this 
country  should  make  himself  miserable  or  unhappy. 
The  average  white  man  in  the  United  States  has 
the  idea  that  the  average  Negro  spends  most  of 
his  time  in  bemoaning  the  fact  that  he  is  not  a 
white  man,  or  in  trying  to  devise  some  way  by 
which  he  will  be  permitted  to  mingle,  in  a  purely 
social  way,  with  white  people.  This  is  far  from  the 
truth.  In  my  intercourse  with  all  classes  of  the 
Negro,  North  and  South,  it  is  a  rare  occurrence 
when  the  matter  of  getting  away  from  the  race, 
or  of  social  intermingling  with  the  white  people, 
is  so  much  as  mentioned.  It  is  especially  true 
that  intelligent  Negroes  find  a  satisfaction  in  social 
intercourse  among  themselves  that  is  rarely  known 
or  understood  by  any  one  outside  of  the  Negro 
race.  In  their  family  life,  in  the  secret  societies 
and  churches,  as  well  as  other  organizations  where 
coloured  people  come  together,  the  most  absorbing 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  67 

topic  of  conversation  invariably  relates  to  some  en- 
terprise for  the  betterment  of  the  race. 

Among  coloured  farmers,  as  among  white  farmers, 
the  main  topic  of  discussion  is  naturally  the  farm. 
The  Negro  is,  in  my  opinion,  naturally  a  farmer, 
and  he  is  at  his  very  best  when  he  is  in  close  con- 
tact with  the  soil.  There  is  something  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  farm  that  develops  and  strengthens 
the  Negro's  natural  common-sense.  As  a  rule  the 
Negro  farmer  has  a  rare  gift  of  getting  at  the  sense 
of;Athings  and  of  stating  in  picturesque  language 
what  he  has  learned.  The  explanation  of  it  is,  it 
seems  to  me,  that  the  Negro  farmer  studies  nature. 
In  his  own  way  he  studies  the  soil,  the  development 
of  plants  and' animals,  the  streams,  the  birds,  and 
the  changes  of  the  seasons.  He  has  a  chance  of 
getting  the  kind  of  knowledge  that  is  valuable  to 
him  at  first-hand. 

In  a  visit  some  years  ago  to  a  Negro  farmers' 
institute  in  the  country,  I  got  a  lesson  from  an  un- 
lettered coloured  farmer  which  I  have  never  for- 
gotten. I  had  been  invited  by  one  of  the  Tuskegee 
graduates  to  go  into  the  country  some  miles  from 
Tuskegee  to  be  present  at  this  institute.  When  I 
entered  the  room  the  members  of  the  institute 
were  holding  what  they  called  their  farmers'  expe- 
rience meeting.      One   coloured   farmer  was   asked 


68  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

to  come  up  to  the  platform  and  give  his  experience. 
He  was  an  old  man,  about  sixty-five  years  of 
age.  He  had  had  no  education  in  the  book,  but 
the  teacher  had  reached  him,  as  he  had  others  in  the 
community,  and  showed  him  how  to  improve  his 
methods  of  farming. 

When  this  old  man  came  up  to  the  front  of  the 
room  to  tell  his  experience,  he  said:  "Fse  never 
had  no  chance  to  study  no  science,  but  since  dis 
teacher  has  been  here  I'se  been  trying  to  make 
some   science   for   myself." 

Thereupon  he  laid  upon  the  table  by  his  side  six 
stalks  of  cotton  and  began  to  describe  in  detail 
how,  during  the  last  ten  years,  he  had  gradually 
enriched  his  land  so  as  to  increase  the  number  of 
bolls  of  cotton  grown  upon  each  individual  stalk. 
He  picked  up  one  stalk  and  showed  it  to  the  audience; 
before  the  teacher  came  to  the  community,  he  said, 
and  before  he  began  to  improve  his  land,  his  cotton 
produced  only  two  bolls  to  the  stalk.  The  second 
year  he  reached  the  point  where,  on  the  same  land, 
he  succeeded  in  producing  four  bolls  on  a  stalk. 
Then  he  showed  the  second  stalk  to  the  audience. 
After  that  he  picked  up  the  third  and  fourth  stalks, 
saying  that  during  the  last  few  years  he  had  reached 
a  point  where  a  stalk  produced  eight  bolls. 

Finally   he   picked   up   the   last   stalk   and   said: 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  69 

"This  year  I  made  cotton  like  dis"  —  and  he  showed 
a  stalk  containing  fourteen  bolls.  Then  the  old 
fellow   took   his   seat. 

Some  one  in  the  audience  from  a  distance  arose 
and  said:     "Uncle,  will  you  tell  us  your  name?" 

The  old  fellow  arose  and  said:  "Now,  as  you  ask 
me  for  my  name,  I'll  tell  you.  In  de  old  days,  before 
dis  teacher  come  here,  I  lived  in  a  little  log-cabin  on 
rented  land,  and  had  to  mortgage  my  crop  every 
year  for  food.  When  I  didn't  have  nothin',  in  dem 
days,  in  my  community  dey  used  to  call  me  'Old 
Jim  Hill.'  But  now  I'se  out  o'  debt;  I'se  de  deeds 
for  fifty  acres  of  land;  and  I  lives  in  a  nice  house 
wid  four  rooms  that's  painted  inside  and  outside; 
I'se  got  some  money  in  de  bank;  I'se  a  taxpayer 
in  my  community;  I'se  edicated  my  children.  And 
now,  in  my  community,  dey  calls  me  c  Mr.  James 
Hill.'" 

The  old  fellow  had  not  only  learned  to  raise  cot- 
ton during  these  ten  years,  but,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  he  had  solved  the  race  problem. 

As  one  travels  through  the  Southland,  he  is  con- 
tinually meeting  old  Negro  farmers  like  the  one 
that  I  have  described.  It  has  been  one  of  the  great 
satisfactions  of  my  life  to  be  able  from  time  to 
time  to  go  out  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  on  the 
plantations  and  on  the  farms  where  the  masses  of 


7o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the  coloured  people  live.  I  like  to  get  into  the 
fields  and  into  the  woods  where  they  are  at  work 
and  talk  with  them.  I  like  to  attend  their  churches 
and  Sunday-schools  and  camp-meetings  and  revival 
meetings.  In  this  way  I  have  gotten  more  material 
which  has  been  of  service  to  me  in  writing  and 
speaking  than  I  have  ever  gotten  by  reading  books. 
There  are  no  frills  about  the  ordinary  Negro  farmer, 
no  pretence.  He,  at  least,  is  himself  and  no  one 
else.  There  is  no  type  of  man  that  I  more  enjoy 
meeting  and   knowing. 

A  disadvantaged  race  has,  too,  the  advantage 
of  coming  in  contact  with  the  best  in  the  North, 
and  this  again  has  been  my  good  fortune.  There 
are  two  classes  of  people  in  the  North  —  one  that 
is  just  as  narrow  and  unreasonable  toward  the  white 
man  at  the  South  as  any  Southern  white  man  can 
be  toward  the  Negro  or  a  Northern  white  man.  I 
have  always  chosen  to  deal  with  the  other  white 
man  at  the  North  —  the  man  with  large  and  liberal 
views. 

In  saying  this  I  make  an  exception  of  the  "pro- 
fessional "  friend  of  the  Negro.  I  have  little  patience 
with  the  man  who  parades  himself  as  the  "pro- 
fessional" friend  of  any  race.  The  "professional" 
friend  of  the  Chinese  or  Japanese  or  Filipino  is 
frequently  a  well-meaning  person,  but  he  is  always 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  71 

tiresome.  I  like  to  meet  the  man  who  is  interested 
in  the  Negro  because  he  is  a  human  being.  I  like 
to  talk  with  the  man  who  wants  to  help  the  Negro 
because  he  is  a  member  of  the  human  family,  and 
because  he  believes  that,  in  helping  the  Negro,  he 
is  helping  to  make  this  a  better  world  to  live  in. 

During  the  twenty-five  years  and  more  that  I 
have  been  accustomed  to  go  North  every  year  to 
obtain  funds  with  which  to  build  up  and  support  the 
Tuskegee  Institute,  I  have  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  large  number  of  exceptional  people  in  that 
part  of  the  country.  Because  I  was  seeking  aid  for 
Negro  education,  seeking  assistance  in  giving  op- 
portunities to  a  neglected  portion  of  our  population, 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  meet  these  people  in  a 
different  and,  perhaps,  more  intimate  way  than 
the  average  man.  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see 
a  side  of  their  lives  of  which  many  of  their  business 
acquaintances,  perhaps,  did  not  know  the  existence. 

Few  people,  I  dare  say,  who  were  acquainted  with 
the  late  Mr.  H.  H.  Rogers,  former  head  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  knew  that  he  had  any 
special  interest  or  sympathy  for  the  Negro.  I  re- 
member well,  however,  an  occasion  when  he  showed 
this  interest  and  sympathy.  I  was  showing  him 
one  day  the  copy  of  a  little  Negro  farmers'  news- 
paper, published  at  Tuskegee,  containing  an  account 


72  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

of  the  efforts  the  people  in  one  of  our  country  com- 
munities were  making  to  raise  a  sum  of  money 
among  themselves  in  order  that  they  might  receive 
the  aid  he  had  promised  them  in  building  a  school- 
house.  As  Mr.  Rogers  read  the  account  of  this  school 
"rally,"  as  it  was  called,  and  looked  down  the  long 
list  of  names  of  the  individuals  who  in  order  to 
make  up  the  required  sum,  had  contributed  out  of 
their  poverty,  some  a  penny,  some  five  cents,  some 
twenty-five,  some  a  dollar  and  a  few  as  much  as 
five  dollars,  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  I  do  not 
think  he  ever  before  realized,  as  he  did  at  that 
moment,  the  great  power  —  and  the  great  power  for 
good — which   his   money   gave   them. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  Mr.  Rogers  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  building  of  the  Virginian 
Railway,  which  was  constructed  upon  his  own  plans 
and  almost  wholly  with  his  own  capital,  from  Nor- 
folk, Va.,  to  Deep  Water,  W.  Va.  One  of  the  first 
things  he  did,  after  this  new  railway  was  com- 
pleted, was  to  make  arrangements  for  a  special 
train  in  order  that  I  might  travel  over  and  speak 
at  the  different  towns  to  the  coloured  people  along 
the  line  and,  at  the  same  time,  study  their  situation 
in  order  that  something  might  be  done  to  improve 
their  condition.  From  his  point  of  view,  these 
people  were  part  of  the  resources  of  the  country 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  73 

which  he  wanted  to  develop.  He  desired  to  see 
the  whole  country  through  which  this  railway  passed, 
which,  up  to  that  time,  had  remained  in  a  some- 
what backward  condition,  made  prosperous  and 
flourishing  and  filled  with  thriving  towns  and  with 
an  industrious  and  happy  people.  He  died,  how- 
ever, just  as  he  seemed  on  the  eve  of  realizing  this 
dream. 

For  a  number  of  years  before  his  death,  I  knew 
Mr.  H.  H.  Rogers  intimately.  I  used  to  see  him 
frequently  in  his  office  in  New  York;  sometimes  I 
made  trips  with  him  on  his  yacht.  At  such  times 
I  had  opportunity  to  talk  over  in  detail  the  work 
that  I  was  trying  to  do.  Mr.  Rogers  had  one  of 
the  most  powerful  and  resourceful  minds  of  any  man 
I  ever  met.  His  connection  with  large  business 
affairs  had  given  him  a  broad  vision  and  practical 
grasp  of  public  and  social  questions,  and  I  learned 
much  from  my  contact  with  him. 

In  this  connection  I  might  name  another  individ- 
ual who  represents  another  and  entirely  different 
type  of  man,  with  whom  I  have  frequently  come 
in  contact  during  my  travels  through  the  Northern 
states.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Oswald  Garrison  Villard, 
editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post.  Mr.  Villard 
is  not  primarily  a  business  man  in  the  sense  that 
Mr.  Rogers  was,  and  his   interest  in  the  education 


74  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

and  progress  of  the  Negro  is  of  a  very  different  kind 
from  that  of  Mr.  Rogers;  at  least  he  approaches 
the   matter   from  a   very   different   point  of  view. 

Mr.  Villard  is  the  grandson  of  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  the  abolitionist.  He  is  a  literary  man  and 
idealist,  and  he  cherishes  all  the  intense  zeal  for  the 
rights  of  the  Negro  which  his  grandfather  before 
him  displayed.  He  is  anxious  and  determined 
that  the  Negro  shall  have  every  right  and  every 
opportunity  that  any  other  race  of  people  has  in 
this  country.  Lie  is  the  outspoken  opponent  of 
every  institution  and  every  individual  who  seeks 
to  limit  in  any  way. the  freedom  of  any  man  or 
class  of  men  anywhere.  He  has  not  only  con- 
tinued in  the  same  way  and  by  much  the  same 
methods  that  his  grandfather  used,  to  fight  the 
battles  for  human  liberty,  but  he  has  interested  him- 
self in  the  education  of  the  Negro.  It  is  due  to 
the  suggestion  and  largely  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Villard 
that  Tuskegee,  at  the  celebration  of  its  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  received  the  $i 50,000  memorial  fund 
to  commemorate  the  name  and  service  of  Mr. 
William  H.  Baldwin  to  Tuskegee  and  Negro  educa- 
tion in  the  South.  Mr.  Villard  has  given  much  of 
his  time  and  personal  service  to  the  work  of  helping 
and  building  up  some  of  the  smaller  and  struggling 
Negro  schools  in  the  South.  He  is  a  trustee  of  at  least 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  75 

two  of  such  institutions,  being  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees  in  one  case,  and  takes  an  active  part  in  the 
direction  and  control  of  their  work.  He  has  recently 
been  active  and,  in  fact,  is  largely  responsible  for  the 
organization  of  the  National  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  the  Coloured  People,  a  sort  of 
national  vigilance  committee,  which  will  watch 
over  and  guard  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  race> 
and  seek  through  the  courts,  through  legislation, 
and  through  other  public  and  private  means,  to 
redress  the  wrongs  from  which  the  race  now  suffers 
in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  add  in  fairness  that,  while  I 
sympathize  fully  with  Mr.  Villard's  purposes,  I 
have  frequently  differed  with  him  as  to  the  methods 
he  has  used  to  accomplish  them.  Sometimes  he 
has  criticised  me  publicly  in  his  newspaper  and 
privately  in  conversation.  Nevertheless,  during  all 
this  time,  I  have  always  felt  that  I  retained  his 
friendship  and  good-will.  I  do  not  think  there  has 
ever  been  a  time  when  I  went  to  him  with  a  request 
of  any  kind  either  for  myself  personally  or  to  obtain 
his  help  in  any  way  in  the  work  in  which  I  was 
engaged  that  he  has  not  shown  himself  willing 
and  anxious  to  do  everything  in  his  power  to'  assist 
me.  While  I  have  not  always  been  able  to  follow 
his  suggestions,  or  agree  with  him  as  to  the  methods 


76  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  should  pursue,  I  have,  nevertheless,  I  think, 
profited  by  his  criticism  and  have  always  felt  and 
appreciated  the  bracing  effect  upon  public  sentiment 
of  his  vigorous  and  uncompromising  spirit. 

I  have  learned  also  from  Mr.  Villard  the  lesson 
that  persons  who  have  a  common  purpose  may  still 
maintain  helpful,  friendly  relations,  even  if  they 
do  differ  as  to  details  and  choose  to  travel  to  the 
common  goal  by  different  roads. 

Another  man  who  has  exercised  a  deep  influence 
upon  me  is  Robert  C.  Ogden.  Some  months  after 
I  became  a  student  at  Hampton  Institute,  Mr. 
Robert  C.  Ogden,  in  company  with  a  number  of 
other  gentlemen  from  New  York,  came  to  Hampton 
on  a  visit.  It  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  him  and 
the  first  sight  of  a  man  of  the  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  build  of  Mr.  Ogden  —  strong,  fresh,  clean, 
vigorous  —  made  an  impression  upon  me  that  it  is 
hard  for  any  one  not  in  my  situation  to  appreciate. 
The  thing  that  impressed  me  most  was  this:  Here 
was  a  man,  intensely  earnest  and  practical,  a  man 
who  was  deeply  engrossed  in  business  affairs,  who 
still  found  time  to  turn  aside  from  his  business  and 
give  a  portion  of  his  time  and  thought  to  the  ele- 
vation of  an   unfortunate  race. 

Mr.  Ogden  is  a  man  of  a  very  different  type  from 
either  Mr.   Rogers  or  Mr.   Villard.     He  does   not 


SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  77 

look  at  the  question  of  uplifting  the  Negro  as 
a  question  of  rights  and  liberty  exclusively:  he  does 
not  think  of  it  merely  as  a  means  of  developing  one 
of  the  neglected  resources  of  the  South.  He  looks 
upon  it,  if  I  may  venture  to  say  so,  as  a  question  of 
humanity.  Mr.  Ogden  is  intensely  interested  in 
human  beings;  he  cannot  think  of  an  unfortunate 
individual  or  class  of  individuals  without  feeling 
a  strong  impulse  to  help  them.  He  has  spent  a 
large  portion  of  his  time,  energy,  and  fortune  in 
inspiring  a  large  number  of  other  people  with  that 
same  sentiment.  I  do  not  believe  any  man  has 
done  more  than  Mr.  Odgen  to  spread,  among  the 
masses  of  the  people,  a  spirit  of  unselfish  service 
to  the  interests  of  humanity,  irrespective  of  geo- 
graphical, sectarian  or  racial  distinction. 

Perhaps  I  can  in  no  better  way  give  an  idea  of 
what  Mr.  Ogden  has  accomplished  in  this  direction 
than  by  giving  a  list  of  some  of  the  activities  in 
which  he  has  been  engaged.     Mr  Ogden  is: 

President  and  only  Northern  member  of  the  Conference  for 
Southern  Education, 

President  of  the  Southern  Education  Board, 

President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Hampton  Institute, 

Trustee  of  Tuskegee  Institute, 

Trustee  of  the  Anna  T.  Jeans  Fund  for  Improvement  of  the 
Negro  Common  School, 

Member  of  the  General  Education  Board. 


78  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Ogden  is 
directly  connected  with  almost  every  important 
movement  for  education  in  the  South,  whether  for 
white  people  or  for  black  people.  In  addition  to 
that  he  is  president  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  New  York, 
member  of  the  Sage  Foundation  Board,  and  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions.  In  all 
these  different  directions  he  has  worked  quietly, 
steadily,  without  stinting  himself,  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  country.  Many  of  the  sentiments  which 
he  has  expressed  in  his  annual  addresses  at  the 
meetings  of  these  different  organizations  have  in 
them  the  breadth  of  view  of  a  real  statesman. 
His  idea  was  that  in  giving  an  equal  opportunity 
for  education  to  every  class  in  the  community  he 
was  laying  the  foundation  for  a  real  democracy. 
He  spoke  of  the  educational  conference,  for  instance, 
as  "a  congress  called  by  the  voice  of  'democracy'  "; 
and  again  he  said  of  this  same  institution,  "  Its 
foundation  is  the  proposition  that  every  American 
child  is  entitled  to  an  education." 

In  spite  of  what  he  has  done  in  a  multitude  of 
ways  to  advance  education,  I  have  heard  Mr. 
Ogden  say,  both  in  public  and  in  private,  that  he 
was  not  an  educated  man.  Perhaps  he  has  not  got- 
ten so  much  education  in  the  usual,  formal,  tech- 


'  SOME  EXCEPTIONAL  MEN  79 

nical  matter  out  of  books  as  some  other  people. 
But  through  the  study  of  books,  or  men,  or  things, 
Mr.  Ogden  has  secured  the  finest  kind  of  education, 
and  deserves  to  be  classed  with  the  scholars  of  the 
world.  So  far  as  I  have  studied  Mr.  Ogden's 
career,  it  is  of  interest  and  value  to  the  public  in 
three    directions: 

First:     He  has  been  a  successful  business  man. 

Second:  More  than  any  other  one  individual  except  Gen. 
S.  C.  Armstrong,  he  has  been  the  leader  in  a  movement  to  edu- 
cate the  whole  South,  regardless  of  race  or  colour. 

Third:  In  many  important  matters  relating  to  moral  and 
religious  education  in  the  North,  Mr.  Ogden  is  an  important 
leader. 

I  know  of  few  men  in  America  whose  life  can  be 
held  up  before  young  people  as  a  model  as  can 
Mr.  Ogden's    life. 

It  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  describe  or  define 
the  manner  and  extent  to  which  I  have  been  in- 
fluenced and  educated  by  my  contact  with  Mr. 
Ogden.  It  was  characteristic  of  him,  that  the  only 
reason  I  came  to  know  him  is  because  I  needed  him, 
needed  him  in  the  work  which  I  was  trying  to  do. 
Had  I  not  been  a  Negro  I  would  probably  never 
have  had  the  rare  experience  of  meeting  and  know- 
ing intimately  a  man  who  stands  so  high  in  every 
walk  of  life  as  Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden.     Had  Mr. 


80  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Ogden  been  a  weak  man,  seeking  his  own  peace  oi 
mind  and  social  position,  he  would  not  have  been 
brave  enough  and  strong  enough  to  ignore  adverse 
criticism  in  his  efforts  to  serve  the  unfortunate  of 
both  races  in  the  South,  and  in  that  case  I  should 
probably  not  have  made  his  acquaintance. 

The  men  that  I  have  mentioned  are  but  types  of 
many  others,  men  intellectually  and  spiritually  great, 
who,  directly  and  indirectly,  have  given  comfort, 
help,  and  counsel  to  the  ten  millions  of  my  race  in 
America. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MY   EXPERIENCE    WITH    REPORTERS   AND 
NEWSPAPERS 

I  HAVE  learned  much  from  reporters  and  news- 
papers. Seldom  do  I  go  into  any  city,  or  even 
step  out  on  the  platform  between  trains,  but 
that  it  seems  to  me  some  newspaper  reporter 
finds  me.  I  used  to  be  surprised  at  the  unex- 
pected places  in  which  these  representatives  of 
the  press  would  turn  up,  and  still  more  surprised 
and  sometimes  embarrassed  by  the  questions  they 
would  ask  me.  It  seemed  to  me  that,  if  there  was 
any  particular  thing  that  I  happened  to  know  and 
did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  talk  about,  that  would  be 
the  precise  thing  that  the  reporter  who  met  me 
wanted  to  question  me  about.  In  such  cases,  too, 
the  reporter  usually  got  the  information  he  wanted, 
or,  if  he  didn't,  I  was  sorry  afterward,  because  if  the 
actual  facts  had  been  published  they  would  have 
done  less  damage  than  the  half  truths  which  he  did 
get  hold  of. 

Si 


82  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  confess  that  when  I  was  less  experienced  I  used 
to  dread  reporters.  For  a  long  time  I  used  to  look 
upon  a  reporter  as  a  kind  of  professional  pry,  a  sort 
of  social  mischief-maker,  who  was  constantly  trying 
to  find  out  something  that  would  make  trouble. 
The  consequence  was  that  when  I  met  reporters 
I  was  likely  to  find  myself  laying  plans  to  circumvent 
them  and  keep  them  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  my 
purposes  and  business. 

A  wide  acquaintance  with  newspapers  and  news- 
paper men  has  completely  changed  my  attitude 
toward  them.  In  the  first  place  I  have  discovered 
that  reporters  usually  ask  just  the  questions  that 
the  average  man  in  the  community  in  which  the 
newspapers  are  located  would  ask  if  he  had  the 
courage  to  do  so.  The  only  difference  is  that  the 
reporter  comes  out  squarely  and  plumply  and  asks 
you  the  question  that  another  person  would  ask 
indirectly  of  some  one  else. 

For  my  part,  I  have  found  it  both  interesting  and 
important  to  know  what  sort  of  questions  the 
average  man  in  the  community  was  asking,  for 
example  about  the  progress  of  the  Negro,  or  about 
my  work.  The  sort  of  questions  the  reporters  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  country  ask  indicate 
pretty  clearly,  not  only  what  the  people  in  the  com- 
munity know  about  my  work,  but  they  tell  me  a  great 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS       83 

deal,  also,  about  the  feeling  of  the  average  man 
toward  the  members  of  my  race  in  that  community 
and  toward  the  Negro  generally.  Not  only  do  the 
newspaper  reporters  keep  me  informed,  in  the  way 
I  have  described,  in  regard  to  a  great  many  things 
I  want  to  know,  but  frequently,  by  the  questions 
that  they  ask,  they  enable  me  to  correct  false  im- 
pressions and  to  give  information  which  it  seems  im- 
portant the  public  should  have,  in  regard  to  the 
condition  and  progress  of  the  Negro. 

One  other  consideration  has  changed  my  attitude 
toward  the  reporters.  As  I  have  become  better 
acquainted  with  newspapers  I  have  come  to  under- 
stand the  manner  and  extent  to  which  they  represent 
the  interests  and  habits  of  thought  of  the  people 
who  read  and  support  them.  Any  man  who  is  en- 
gaged in  any  sort  of  work  that  makes  constant  de- 
mands upon  the  good-will  and  confidence  of  the 
public  knows  that  it  is  important  that  he  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  reach  this  public  directly 
and  to  answer  just  the  sort  of  questions  the  news- 
papers ask  of  him.  As  I  have  said,  these  inquiries 
represent  the  natural  inquiries  of  the  average  man. 
If  the  newspaper  did  not  ask  and  answer  these  ques- 
tions, they  would  remain  unanswered,  or  the  public 
would  get  the  information  it  wanted  from  some 
more  indirect  and  less  reliable  source. 


84  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Several  times,  during  the  years  that  I  have  been 
at  Tuskegee,  a  representative  from  some  Southern 
paper  or  magazine  has  come  to  me  to  inquire  in 
regard  to  some  rumour  or  report  that  has  got  abroad 
in  regard  to  conditions  inside  our  school.  In  such 
cases  I  have  simply  told  the  reporter  to  take  as 
much  time  as  he  chose  and  make  as  thorough  an 
examination  of  the  school  and  everything  about  it 
as  he  cared  to.  At  the  same  time,  I  have  assured 
him  that  he  was  perfectly  free  to  ask  any  questions 
on  any  subject,  of  any  person  that  he  met  on  the 
grounds.  In  other  words,  I  have  given  him  every 
opportunity  to  go  as  far  as  he  wanted,  and  to  make 
his  investigation  as  thorough  as  he  desired. 

Of  course,  in  every  institution  as  large  as  ours, 
there  is  abundant  opportunity  for  a  malicious  or 
ill-disposed  person  to  make  injurious  criticism,  or 
to  interpret  what  he  learns  in  a  way  that  would 
injure  the  institution.  But  in  every  such  case,  in- 
stead of  printing  anything  derogatory  to  the  school, 
the  newspaper  investigation  has  proved  the  most 
valuable  sort  of  advertisement,  and  the  rumours  that 
had  been  floating  about  have  been  silenced.  There 
is  no  means  so  effectual  in  putting  an  end  to  gossip 
as  a  newspaper  investigation  and  report.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  have  found  that  there  is  no  way  of 
so  quickly  securing  the  good-will  of  a   newspaper 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS       O5 

reporter  as  by  showing  him  that  you  have  nothing 
to  conceal. 

Frequently  I  have  heard  people  criticise  the  news- 
papers because  they  print  and  give  currency  to  so 
much  that  is  merely  trivial;  in  other  words,  what  we 
commonly  speak  of  as  gossip.  What  I  know  of  the 
newspapers  convinces  me  that  they  do  not  print 
one  tenth  of  the  reports  that  are  sent  in  to  them, 
and  that  a  large  part  of  the  time  of  every  newspaper 
man  is  spent  in  running  down  and  proving  the 
falsity  of  stories  and  rumours  that  have  gained  cur- 
rency in  the  community  as  a  result  of  the  natural 
disposition  of  mankind  to  accept  and  believe  any 
kind  of  statement  that  is  sufficiently  circumstantial 
and  interesting.  My  own  experience  leads  me  to 
believe  that  if  the  newspaper  performed  no  other  ser- 
vice for  the  community  but  that  of  rooting  out  of 
the  public  mind  the  malice  and  prejudice  that  rest 
upon  misinformation  and  gossip,  it  would  justify 
its  existence  in  this  way  alone. 

,In  saying  this,  I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
daily  papers  are  responsible  for  giving  currency  to 
many  statements  that  are  false  and  misleading: 
that  too  frequently  the  emphasis  is  placed  upon  the 
things  that  are  merely  exciting,  while  important 
matters  —  or,  at  least,  matters  that  seem  important 
to  some  of  us  who  are  on  the  outside  —  are  passed 


8#  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

over  in  silence.  To  a  very  large  extent  the  daily- 
newspapers  have  merely  taken  up  the  work  that  was 
formerly  performed  by  the  village  gossip,  or  by  the 
men  who  sat  around  in  the  village  store,  talked  pol- 
itics, and  made  public  opinion.  The  newspaper, 
however,  does  that  work  on  a  higher  plane.  It 
gives  us  a  world-wide  outlook,  and  it  makes  a  com- 
mendable effort  to  get  the  truth.  Even  if,  like 
the  village  gossip,  it  puts  the  emphasis  sometimes 
on  the  wrong  things  and  spends  a  lot  of  time  over 
personal  and  unimportant  matters,  it  at  least  brings 
all  classes  of  people  together  in  doing  so.  People 
who  read  the  same  newspaper  are  bound  to  feel 
neighbourly,  even  though  they  may  never  meet  one 
another,  even  though  they  live  thousands  of  miles 
apart. 

I  have  learned  much  from  newspapers  and  from 
newspaper  men.  I  think  I  have  met  all  kinds  of  news- 
paper reporters,  not  only  those  who  work  on  the  con- 
servative, but  also  those  on  the  so-called  "yellow" 
journals,  and  what  I  have  seen  of  them  convinces 
me  that  no  class  of  men  in  the  community  work 
harder  or  more  faithfully  to  perform  the  difficult 
tasks  to  which  they  are  assigned  or,  considering 
all  the  circumstances,  perform  their  work  better. 
I  confess  that  I  have  grown  to  the  point  where  I 
always  like  to  meet  and  talk  with  newspaper  men, 


MY  EXPERIENCE   WITH  NEWSPAPERS      87 

because  they  know  the  world,  they  know  what  is 
going  on,  and  they  know  men.  I  have  frequently 
been  amazed,  in  talking  with  newspaper  men,  to 
learn  the  amount  of  accurate,  intimate,  and  inside 
information  that  they  had  about  public  and  even 
private  matters,  and  at  the  insight  they  showed  in 
weighing  and  judging  public  men  and  their  actions. 

One  .thing  that  has  interested  me  in  this  connec- 
tion has  been  the  discovery  that  practically  every 
large  newspaper  in  the  country  has  in  its  office  a 
vast  array  of  facts  which,  out  of  charity  for  the  in- 
dividuals concerned  or  because  some  public  interest 
would  be  injured  by  their  publication,  never  get 
into  print.  I  am  convinced  that  much  more  fre- 
quently than  is  supposed  newspaper  men  show 
their  interest  in  individuals  and  in  the  public  welfare 
by  what  they  withhold  from  publication  rather  than 
by  what  they  actually  do  print.  Considering 
that,  under  the  conditions  in  which  mod- 
ern newspapers  are  conducted,  any  fact  which 
would  interest  and  excite  the  community  has 
become  a  kind  of  commodity  which  it  is  the 
business  of  the  newspaper  to  gather  up  and  sell, 
it  is  surprising  that  these  publications  are  as  dis- 
criminating and  as  considerate  as  they  are. 

It  seems  to  me,  also,  that  there  has  been  a  notice- 
able  improvement,  in    recent  years,  in    the  method 


88  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

of  getting  and  preparing  newspaper  reports.  I  am 
not  sure  whether  this  is  due  more  to  the  improve- 
ment in  the  class  of  men  who  represent  the  papers 
or  whether  it  is  due  to  a  better  understanding  on  the 
part  of  the  public  as  to  the  methods  of  dealing  with 
reporters;  to  a  more  definite  recognition  on  the  part 
of  both  the  public  and  the  newspapers  of  the  re- 
sponsible position  which  the  modern  newspaper 
occupies  in  the  complex  organization  of  modern  social 
life.  Both  private  individuals  and  public  men 
seem  to  have  recognized  the  fact  that,  in  a  country 
where  the  life  of  every  individual  touches  so  closely 
the  life  of  every  other,  it  is  in  the  interest  of  all  that 
each  should  work,  as  it  were,  in  the  open,  where  all 
the  world  may  know  and  understand  what  he  is 
doing. 

On  the  other  hand,  newspapers  have  discovered 
that  the  only  justification  for  putting  any  fact  in  a 
newspaper  is  that  publication  will  serve  some 
sort  of  public  interest,  and  that,  in  the  long 
run,  the  value  of  a  piece  of  news  and  the  repu- 
tation of  a  newspaper  that  prints  it  depend  upon 
the  absolute  accuracy  and  trustworthiness  of  its 
reports. 

I  have  learned  something  about  newspapers  and 
newspaper  men  from  my  own  experience  with  them, 
but  I  have  learned  much,  also,  from  the  manner  in 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS       89 

which  some  of  the  best  known  men  in  this  country 
have  been  accustomed  to  deal  with  them. 

On  several  occasions  when  I  was  at  the  White 
House,  during  the  time  that  Colonel  Roosevelt  was 
President,  I  saw  him  surrounded  by  half  a  dozen 
reporters  —  representing  great  daily  papers.  I  was 
greatly  surprised  on  those  occasions  to  observe 
that  the  President  would  talk  to  these  reporters 
just  as  frankly  and  freely  about  matters  pertaining 
to  the  government,  and  his  plans  and  policies,  as 
one  partner  in  business  would  talk  to  another  part- 
ner. While  these  men,  as  a  result  of  the  interview, 
would  telegraph  long  despatches  to  their  papers, 
[  am  sure  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  President's 
confidence  was  rarely,  if  ever,  betrayed. 

It  was  largely  through  such  frank  interviews, 
taking  the  whole  country  into  his  confidence,  as  it 
were,  that  President  Roosevelt  was  able,  in  so  large 
a  degree,  to  carry  the  whole  country  along  with 
him.  Ever  since  I  have  known  Colonel  Roosevelt, 
one  of  the  things  that  I  have  observed  in  his  career 
has  been  his  ability  and  disposition  to  keep  in  close 
personal  touch  with  the  brightest  newspaper  men 
and  magazine  writers  of  the  country.  The  news- 
paper men  like  him  because  he  understands  the 
conditions  under  which  they  work  and  at  the  same 
time  recognizes  the  important  part  that  they  and 


9o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION. 

their  reports  play  in  the  actual,  if  not  in  the  official, 
government  in  a  democratic  country  like  ours. 

Another  noted  man  whom  it  has  been  my  priv- 
ilege to  see  a  good  deal  of,  in  connection  with  news- 
papers, is  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie.  Not  long  ago  I 
heard  the  question  asked  why  it  was  that,  while  so 
many  rich  men  were  unpopular,  Andrew  Carnegie 
held  the  love  and  respect  of  the  common  people. 
From  what  I  have  seen  of  Mr.  Carnegie  I  ascribe  a 
good  deal  of  his  popularity  to  the  candour  and  good 
sense  with  which  he  deals  with  reporters  and  news- 
papers. Mr.  Carnegie  has  something  of  Mr.  Roose- 
velt's disposition  to  take  reporters  into  his  confidence. 
Both  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Carnegie  have 
known  how  to  use  newspapers  as  a  means  of  letting 
the  world  know  what  they  are  doing  and,  in  both 
cases,  I  believe  that  the  popularity  of  these  men  is 
due,  in  very  large  part,  to  their  ability  to  get  into 
a  sort  of  personal  touch  with  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple through  the  newspapers. 

In  saying  this  I  do  not  mean  that  either  Colonel 
Roosevelt  or  Mr.  Carnegie  has  made  use  of  the 
newspapers  merely  for  the  sake  of  increasing  their 
personal  popularity.  The  man  who  is  known, 
and  has  the  confidence  of  the  public,  can,  if  he  does 
not  allow  himself  to  be  fooled  by  his  own  popularity, 
accomplish   a   great   deal    more,    perform    a   much 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS        91 

greater  public  service,  than  the  man  whose  name 
is  unknown. 

In  the  case  of  both  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  Mr. 
Carnegie,  the  names  of  private  individuals  have, 
in  each  case,  become  associated  in  the  public  mind 
with  certain  large  public  interests.  They  have  come 
to  be,  in  a  very  real  sense,  public  men  because  they 
have  embodied  in  their  persons  and  their  lives  certain 
important  public  interests.  Although,  so  far  as  I 
know,  he  has  never  held  public  office  of  any  kind, 
Mr.  Carnegie  is  nevertheless  a  public  man.  Mr. 
Roosevelt  has  not  ceased  to  be  identified  with  cer- 
tain important  public  interests;  nor  has  he  lost,  to 
any  great  extent,  political  power  because  he  is  no 
longer  President  of  the  United  States.  The  power 
which  these  men  exercise  upon  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  the  masses  of  their  fellow  countrymen  is  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  able  to  make  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  public  through  the  newspapers. 

I  have  always  counted  it  a  great  privilege  that  my 
name  became  associated,  comparatively  early  in 
my  life,  with  what  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  great 
and  important  public  interest,  namely,  a  form  of 
education  which  seems  to  me  best  suited  to  fit  a  re- 
cently enfranchised  race  for  the  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities of  citizenship  in  a  republic.  The  fact  that  I 
have  been  compelled  to  raise  the  larger  part  of  the 


92  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

money  for  establishing  this  kind  of  education  by- 
direct  appeals  to  the  public  has  made  my  name 
pretty  generally  known.  I  am  glad  that  this  is 
true,  for  through  the  medium  of  the  newspapers  I 
have  been  able  to  get  in  touch  with  many  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  persons  that  I  would  never  have 
been  able  to  reach  with  my  voice.  All  this  has 
multiplied  my  powers  for  service  a  hundredfold. 

Of  course  it  is  just  as  true  that  a  man  who  has 
become  well  known  and  gained  the  confidence  of 
the  public  through  the  medium  of  the  press  can 
use  that  power  for  purely  selfish  purposes,  if  he 
chooses,  as  that  he  can  use  it  for  the  public  welfare. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  nearly  every  man  who  has  in 
any  way  gained  the  confidence  of  the  public  has 
every  year  many  opportunities  for  turning  his  pop- 
ularity to  private  account. 

Several  times  in  the  course  of  a  year,  for  example, 
some  one  makes  me  a  present  of  shares  of  stock  in 
some  new  concern,  and,  on  several  occasions,  I  have 
had  deeds  of  lots  in  some  land  scheme  or  new  town 
presented  to  me.  I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  promptly 
return  every  gift  of  that  kind,  first  of  all  for  the  good 
business  reason  that  it  would  not  pay  me  to  have 
my  name  connected  with  any  enterprise,  no  matter 
how  legitimate  it  might  be,  for  which  I  could  not  be 
personally  responsible,   and   the  use  of  my  name, 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS       93 

under  such  circumstances,  so  far  as  it  influenced  any- 
one to  invest  in  the  scheme,  would  be  a  fraud. 

A  second  reason  is  my  desire  to  keep  faith  with 
the  public,  if  I  may  so  express  it.  In  order  to  do  that, 
I  have  never  been  able  to  see  how  I  could  afford 
to  give  any  of  my  time  or  attention  to  any  enter- 
prise or  any  kind  of  work  that  did  not  have  to  do 
specifically  and  directly  with  the  work  of  Negro 
education,  in  the  broad  spirit  in  which  I  have 
interpreted  it. 

I  have  already  said  that,  in  my  early  experience 
with  newspaper  reporters,  I  used  to  think  it  was 
necessary  to  be  very  careful  in  letting  them  know 
what  my  ambitions  and  aims  in  regard  to  my  work 
were.  But  I  have  learned  that  it  is  pretty  hard  to 
keep  anything  from  the  newspapers  that  the  news- 
papers think  the  public  wants  to  know.  As  a  result 
of  what  I  have  learned  I  try  to  be  perfectly  frank 
with  newspaper  men.  For  some  years  I  have  made 
it  my  custom  to  talk  with  them  concerning  all  my 
plans  and  everything  of  a  public  nature  in  which 
I  am  interested.  I  talk  with  them  just  the  same  as 
I  would  with  one  of  my  friends  or  business  acquaint- 
ances. When  a  reporter  comes  to  interview  me  I 
tell  him  what  I  wish  he  might  publish,  and  what  I 
wish  he  would  not  publish.  Frequently  I  have 
discovered    that    the    newspaper    man    understood 


94  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

better  than  I  how  to  state  things  in  a  way  that 
should  give  the  right  impression  to  the  public. 
This  seems  to  be  especially  true  of  the  Washington 
correspondents  of  the  great  dailies,  who,  considering 
the  many  important  matters  which  they  have  to 
handle,  exercise,  it  seems  to  me,  a  remarkable  dis- 
cretion as  to  what  should,  and  should  not,  be  printed. 
Let  me  give  an  illustration:  When  Colonel 
Roosevelt  was  President,  he  invited  me  to  come  to 
the  White  House  to  read  over  an  important  part  of 
one  of  his  annual  messages  to  Congress.  The 
passage  of  his  message  in  regard  to  which  he  con- 
sulted me  referred  to  a  subject  upon  which  there  was 
great  interest  at  that  time,  and  the  newspaper  report- 
ers in  Washington,  and  especially  those  on  duty 
at  the  White  House,  had  some  inkling  as  to  the  sub- 
ject that  the  President  wished  to  discuss  with  me. 
I  was  with  the  President  for  a  considerable  time. 
When  I  came  out  of  the  President's  office  I  was  at 
once  surrounded  by  half  a  dozen  newspaper  men 
who  wished  me  to  tell  them,  in  detail,  just  what  I 
had  discussed  with  the  President.  After  some  hes- 
itation I  made  up  my  mind  to  try  the  experiment  of 
being  perfectly  frank  with  them.  I  gave  them  an 
outline  of  what  was  in  the  message  and  went  into 
some  detail  in  regard  to  our  discussion  of  it.  After 
I  had  given  them  the  facts,  I  said  to  them:     "Now, 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS       95 

gentlemen,  do  you  think  that  this  is  a  subject  that 
I  ought  to  give  out  to  the  public  at  this  time  through 
the  newspapers?" 

Each  one  of  them  promptly  replied  that  he  did 
not  think  it  was  a  matter  that  I  ought  to  give  out 
to  the  public.  The  result  was  that  the  next  day 
not  a  single  newspaper  represented  in  this  conversa- 
tion had  a  line  concerning  the  matter  which  had 
called  me  to  the  White  House.  This  is  an  example 
of  an  experience  which  I  have  frequently  had  in 
dealing  with  reporters.  If  I  had  tried  to  hide  some- 
thing from  them,  or  to  deceive  them,  I  suspect  that 
some  garbled  report  or  misstatement  of  the  facts 
would  have  been  given  to  the  public  in  regard  to  the 
matter. 

There  is  always  a  question  with  me,  and  I  presume 
there  is  with  most  public  speakers,  as  to  what  is  the 
best  form  of  preparing  and  delivering  a  public  ad- 
dress, and  of  getting  the  gist  of  it  correctly  and  prop- 
erly reported  through  the  newspapers.  When  I 
first  began  speaking  in  public  I  used  to  follow  the 
plan  to  a  great  extent  of  committing  speeches  to 
memory.  This  plan,  however,  I  soon  gave  up. 
At  present  I  do  not  commit  speeches  to  memory, 
except  on  very  important  occasions,  or  when  I  am 
to  speak  on  an  entirely  new  subject. 

The  plan  of  writing  out  one's  speech  and  reading 


96  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

it  has  its  advantages,  but  it  also  has  its  disadvan- 
tages. A  written  speech  is  apt  to  sound  stiff  and 
formal;  besides,  if  one  depends  upon  a  manuscript, 
he  will  not  be  able  to  adapt  himself  to  the  occasion. 
Writing  out  a  speech,  however,  has  the  advantage 
of  enabling  one  to  give  out  something  to  the  news- 
papers that  will  be  absolutely  accurate. 

After  trying  both  the  plan  of  committing  to  mem- 
ory and  of  writing  out  my  addresses,  I  have  struck 
upon  a  compromise  which  I  find,  in  my  case,  an- 
swers the  purpose  pretty  well.  The  plan  which  I 
now  follow  is  this:  I  think  out  what  I  want  to  say 
pretty  carefully.  After  having  done  that,  I  write 
head  lines,  or  little  suggestions  that  will  call  my  at- 
tention to  the  points  that  I  wish  to  make  in  covering 
my  speech.  After  having  thought  out  the  general 
line  of  my  speech,  and  then  having  prepared  my 
head  lines,  I  have  for  a  number  of  years  been  accus- 
tomed to  dictate  my  speech  to  a  stenographer.  By 
long  practice,  I  have  found  that,  after  dictating  my 
speech,  I  can  take  my  head  lines  or  memorandum 
sheet  and  follow  the  dictation  almost  exactly  when 
I  deliver  my  address.  I  give  out  all  or  a  portion 
of  the  dictated  address  to  the  newspapers  in  advance. 
This  the  reporters  consider  an  accommodation  to 
them.  It  insures  accuracy  and  at  the  same  time 
leaves  me  free  while  speaking  to  throw  aside  the 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS        97 

stiffness  and  formality  that  would  naturally  be  nec- 
essary in  reading  an  address  or  in  delivering  an  ad- 
dress that  had  been  committed  to  memory,  and  to 
take  advantage  of  any  local  interests  that  would 
give  a  more  lively  colour  to  what  I  have  to  say. 

Another  disadvantage  of  a  written  address,  or 
of  one  committed  to  memory,  is  that  it  is  difficult 
to  adapt  it  to  the  interests  of  the  immediate  audi- 
ence. To  me,  talking  to  an  audience  is  like  talking 
to  an  individual.  Each  audience  has  a  personality 
of  its  own,  and  one  can  no  more  find  two  audiences 
that  are  exactly  alike  than  he  can  find  two 
individuals  that  are  exactly  alike.  The  speaker 
who  fails  to  adapt  himself  to  the  conditions,  sur- 
roundings, and  general  atmosphere  of  his  audience 
in  a  large  degree  fails,  I  think,  as  a  speaker.  I  have 
found  that  the  best  plan  is,  as  I  have  stated,  to 
study  one's  subject  through  and  through,  to  saturate 
himself  with  it  so  that  he  is  master  of  every  detail, 
and  then  use  head  lines  as  a  memorandum. 

One  of  the  questions  which  I  suppose,  every 
man  who  deals  with  the  public  has  to  meet  sooner 
or  later  is  how  to  deal  with  a  false  newspaper 
report.  I  have  made  it  a  rule  never  to  deny 
a  false  report,  except  under  very  exceptional  cir- 
cumstances. In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  denying 
of  the  report  simply  calls  attention  to  the  original 


98  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

statement  in  a  way  to  magnify  it.  Many  people 
who  did  not  see  the  original  false  report  will  see  the 
denial  and  will  then  begin  to  search  for  the  original 
report  to  find  out  what  it  was.  And  then,  unfor- 
tunately, there  are  always  some  newspapers  that 
will  spread  a  report  that  is  not  justified  by  facts, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  denial  or  of  exciting  a 
discussion.  My  experience  is  that  it  always  gives  a 
certain  dignity  and  standing  to  a  slander  or  a  false- 
hood to  deny  it.  Every  one  likes  a  fight,  and  a  con- 
troversy will  frequently  lend  a  fictitious  interest  and 
importance  to  comparatively  trivial  circumstances. 
During  a  long  period  of  years  in  dealing  with  the 
public  I  have  been  deceived  only  once  in  recent 
years  by  a  newspaper  reporter.  This  was  the  case 
of  a  man  on  a  New  York  paper  who  got  aboard  a 
train  with  me,  took  a  seat  by  my  side,  and  began 
the  discussion  of  a  question  which  was  much  before 
the  public  at  that  time.  He  gave  me  the  impression 
that  he  was  a  man  engaged  in  business  and  was  only 
incidentally  interested  in  the  subject  under  discus- 
sion. I  talked  with  him  pretty  freely  and  frankly, 
as  I  would  with  any  gentleman.  My  suspicions 
were  not  aroused  until  I  noticed  that  suddenly  and 
unceremoniously  he  left  the  train  at  a  way  station. 
I  at  once  made  up  my  mind  that  I  had  been  talking, 
not  to  an  individual,  but  to  the  public.     The  next 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS        99 

morning  a  long  report  of  this  interview  appeared  in 
his  paper.  I  at  once  informed  the  managing  editor 
of  what  had  occurred. 

I  am  not  sure  that  anything  definite  came  of  my 
letter,  but  I  believe  that  one  way  to  improve  the 
methods  of  the  newspapers  in  dealing  with  individ- 
uals is  to  protest  when  you  think  you  have  been 
badly  treated. 

The  important  thing,  it  seems  to  me,  about  the 
newspaper  is  that  it  represents  the  interest  and 
reflects  the  opinions  and  intelligence  of  the  average 
man  in  the  community  where  the  paper  is  published. 
The  local  press  reflects  the  local  prejudice.  Its 
failings  are  the  common  human  failings.  Its  faults 
are  the  faults  of  the  average  man  in  the  community, 
and  on  the  whole  it  seems  to  me  best  that  it  should 
be  so.  If  the  newspapers  were  not  a  reflex  of  the 
minds  of  their  readers,  they  would  not  be  as  inter- 
esting or  as  valuable  as  they  are.  We  should  not 
know  the  people  about  us  as  well  as  we  do.  As  long 
as  the  newspaper  exists  we  not  only  have  a  means 
of  understanding  how  the  average  man  thinks  and 
feels,  but  we  have  a  medium  for  reaching  and  influ- 
encing him.  People  who  profess  to  have  no  respect 
for  the  newspapers  as  a  rule,  I  fear,  have  very  little 
understanding  or  respect  for  the  average  man. 

The  real  trouble  with  the  newspapers  is  that  while 


ioo  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

they  frequently  exhibit  the  average  man  at  his 
worst,  they  rarely  show  him  at  his  best.  In  order 
to  read  the  best  about  the  average  man  we  must 
still  go  to  books  or  to  magazines.  The  newspaper 
has  the  advantage  that  it  touches  real  things  and 
real  persons,  but  it  touches  them  only  on  the  surface. 
For  that  reason  I  have  found  it  safe  never  to  give 
too  much  weight  to  what  a  newspaper  says  about 
a  man  either  good  or  bad. 

Nevertheless  I  have  learned  more  from  newspapers 
than  I  have  from  books.  In  fact,  aside  from  what 
I  have  learned  from  actual  contact  with  men  and 
with  things,  I  believe  I  have  gained  the  greatest 
part  of  my  education  from  newspapers.  I  am  sure 
this  is  so  if  I  include  among  the  newspapers  those 
magazines  which  deal  with  current  topics.  Cer- 
tainly I  have  been  stimulated  in  all  my  thinking 
more  by  news  than  I  have  by  the  general  statements 
I  have  met  in  books.  In  this,  as  in  other  matters, 
I  like  to  deal  at  first-hand  with  the  raw  material  and 
this  I  find  in  the  newspapers  more  than  in  books. 

Frequently  I  have  heard  persons  speak  of  the 
newspaper  as  if  its  only  purpose  in  making  its  reports 
was  to  tear  down  rather  than  build  up.  It  is  cer- 
tainly true  that  newspapers  are  rather  ruthless 
in  the  way  in  which  they  seem  to  bring  every 
man,    particularly   every   public   man,   to    the   bar 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  NEWSPAPERS      101 

of  public  opinion  and  make  him  explain  and  justify 
his    work. 

Nevertheless  it  is  important  that  every  man 
who  is  in  any  way  engaged,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  performing  any  kind  of  public  service  should 
never  be  permitted  to  forget  that  the  only  title  to 
place  or  privilege  that  any  man  enjoys  in  the  com- 
munity is  ultimately  based  on  the  service  that  he 
performs.  I  believe  that  any  man,  public  or  private, 
who  meets  newspaper  men  and  deals  with  the  news- 
paper in  that  spirit  will  find  himself  helped  im- 
mensely in  his  work  by  the  press  rather  than  injured. 

For  my  own  part  I  feel  sure  that  I  owe  much  of 
such  success  as  I  have  been  able  to  achieve  to  the 
sympathy  and  interest  which  the  newspaper  press, 
North  and  South,  has  shown  in  the  work  that  I 
have  been  trying  to  do.  Largely  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  newspapers  I  have  been  able  to  come  into 
contact  with  the  larger  public  outside  of  my  com- 
munity and  the  circle  of  my  immediate  friends  and, 
by  this  means,  to  make  the  school  at  Tuskegee,  not 
merely  a  private  philanthropy,  but  in  the  truest 
sense  of  that  word  a  public  institution,  supported 
by  the  public  and  conducted  not  in  the  interest  of 
any  one  race  or  section,  merely,  but  in  the  interest 
of  the  whole  country. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INTELLECTUALS  AND  THE  BOSTON  MOB 

IT  MAKES  a  great  deal  of  difference  in 
the  life  of  a  race,  as  it  does  in  the  life  of 
an  individual,  whether  the  world  expects 
much  or  little  of  that  individual  or  of  that  race.  I 
suppose  that  every  boy  and  every  girl  born  in 
poverty  have  felt  at  some  time  in  their  lives  the 
weight  of  the  world  against  them.  What  the  peo- 
ple in  the  communities  did  not  expect  them  to  do 
it  was  hard  for  them  to  convince  themselves  that 
they  could  do. 

After  I  got  so  that  I  could  read  a  little,  I  used 
to  take  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  in  the  fives  of 
men  who  had  risen  by  their  own  efforts  from  poverty 
to  success.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  boy  to  be  able 
to  read  books  of  that  kind.  It  not  only  inspires 
him  with  the  desire  to  do  something  and  make  some- 
thing of  his  life,  but  it  teaches  him  that  success  de- 
pends upon  his  ability  to  do  something  useful,  to 
perform  some  kind  of  service  that  the  world  wants. 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  103 

The  trouble  in  my  case,  as  in  that  of  other  col- 
oured boys  of  any  age,  was  that  the  stories  we  read 
in  school  were  all  concerned  with  the  success  and 
achievements  of  white  boys  and  men.  Occasionally 
I  spoke  to  some  of  my  schoolmates  in  regard  to 
the  characters  of  whom  I  had  read,  but  they  in- 
variably reminded  me  that  the  stories  I  had  been 
reading  had  to  do  with  the  members  of  another 
race.  Sometimes  I  tried  to  argue  the  matter  with 
them,  saying  that  what  others  had  done  some  of 
us  might  also  be  able  to  do,  and  that  the  lack  of  a 
past  in  our  race  was  no  reason  why  it  should  not 
have  a  future. 

They  replied  that  our  case  was  entirely  different. 
They  said,  in  effect,  that  because  of  our  colour 
and  beeause  we  carried  in  our  faces  the  brand  of  a 
race  that  had  been  in  slavery,  white  people  did  not 
want  us  to  succeed. 

In  the  end  I  usually  wound  up  the  discussion  by 
recalling  the  life  of  Frederick  Douglass,  reminding 
them  of  the  high  position  which  he  had  reached 
and  of  the  great  service  which  he  had  performed  for 
his  own  race  and  for  the  cause  of  human  freedom 
in  the  long  anti-slavery  struggle. 

Even  before  I  had  learned  to  read  books  or  news- 
papers, I  remember  hearing  my  mother  and  other 
coloured  people  in  our  part  of  the  country  speak 


104  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

about  Frederick  Douglass's  wonderful  life  and 
achievements.  I  heard  so  much  about  Douglass 
when  I  was  a  boy  that  one  of  the  reasons  why  I 
wanted  to  go  to  school  and  learn  to  read  was  that 
I  might  read  for  myself  what  he  had  written  and 
said.  In  fact,  one  of  the  first  books  that  I  remember 
reading  was  his  own  story  of  his  life,  which  Mr. 
Douglass  published  under  the  title  of  "My  Life 
and  Times."  This  book  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  me,  and  I  read  it  many  times. 

After  I  became  a  student  at  Hampton,  under 
Gen.  Samuel  C.  Armstrong,  I  heard  a  great  deal 
more  about  Frederick  Douglass,  and  I  followed  all 
his  movements  with  intense  interest.  At  the  same 
time  I  began  to  learn  something  about  other  prom- 
inent and  successful  coloured  men  who  were  at 
that  time  the  leaders  of  my  race  in  the  United  States. 
These  were  such  men  as  Congressman  John  M. 
Langston,  of  Virginia ;  United  States  Senator  Blanche 
K.  Bruce,  of  Mississippi;  Lieut.-Gov.  P.  B.  S. 
Pinchback,  of  Louisiana;  Congressman  John  R. 
Lynch,  of  Mississippi;  and  others  whose  names  were 
household  words  among  the  masses  of  the  coloured 
people  at  that  time.  I  read  with  the  greatest 
eagerness  everything  I  could  get  hold  of  regarding 
the  prominent  Negro  characters  of  that  period,  and 
was    a   faithful    student   of  their  lives   and  deeds. 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  105 

Later  on  I  had  the  privilege  of  meeting  and  knowing 
all  of  these  men,  but  at  that  time  I  little  thought  that 
it  would  ever  be  my  fortune  to  meet  and  know  any 
of  them. 

On  one  occasion,  when  I  happened  to  be  in  Wash- 
ington, I  heard  that  Frederick  Douglass  was  going 
to  make  a  speech  in  a  near-by  town.  I  had  never 
seen  him  nor  heard  him  speak,  so  I  took  advantage 
of  the  opportunity.  I  was  profoundly  impressed 
both  by  the  man  and  by  the  address,  but  I  did  not 
dare  approach  even  to  shake  hands  with  him.  Some 
three  or  four  years  after  I  had  organized  the  Tuske- 
gee  Institute  I  invited  Mr.  Douglass  to  make  a  visit 
to  the  school  and  to  speak  at  the  commencement 
exercises  of  the  school.  He  came  and  spoke  to  a 
great  audience,  many  of  whom  had  driven  thirty 
or  forty  miles  to  hear  the  great  orator  and  leader  of 
the  race.  In  the  course  of  time  I  invited  all  of  the 
prominent  coloured  men  whose  names  I  have  men- 
tioned, as  well  as  others,  to  come  to  Tuskegee  and 
speak  to  our  students  and  to  the  coloured  people 
in  our  community. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  speeches  (as  well  as 
the  writings)  of  most  of  these  men  were  concerned 
for  the  most  part  with  the  past  history,  or  with  the 
present  and  future  political  problems,  of  the  Negro 
race.     Mr.     Douglass's    great    life-work    had    been 


106  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

in  the  political  agitation  that  led  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  slavery.  He  had  been  the  great  defender 
of  the  race,  and  in  the  struggle  to  win  from 
Congress  and  from  the  country  at  large  the 
recognition  of  the  Negro's  rights  as  a  man  and 
a  citizen  he  had  played  an  important  part.  But 
the  long  and  bitter  political  struggle  in  which 
he  had  engaged  against  slavery  had  not  prepared 
Mr.  Douglass  to  take  up  the  equally  difficult  task 
of  fitting  the  Negro  for  the  opportunities  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  freedom.  The  same  was  true  to 
a  large  extent  of  other  Negro  leaders.  At  the  time 
when  I  met  these  men  and  heard  them  speak  I 
was  invariably  impressed,  though  young  and  inex- 
perienced, that  there  was  something  lacking  in 
their  public  utterances.  I  felt  that  the  millions 
of  Negroes  needed  something  more  than  to  be 
reminded  of  their  sufferings  and  of  their  political 
rights;  that  they  needed  to  do  something  more  than 
merely  to  defend  themselves. 

Frederick  Douglass  died  in  February,  1895.  In 
September  of  the  same  year  I  delivered  an  address 
in  Atlanta  at  the  Cotton  States  Exposition. 

I  spoke  in  Atlanta  to  an  audience  composed  of 
leading  Southern  white  people,  Northern  white 
people,  and  members  of  my  own  race.  This  seemed 
to  me  to  be  the  time  and  the  place,  without  condemn- 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  107 

ing  what  had  been  done,  to  emphasize  what  ought 
to  be  done.  I  felt  that  we  needed  a  policy,  not  of 
destruction,  but  of  construction;  not  of  defence, 
but  of  aggression;  a  policy,  not  of  hostility  or  sur- 
render, but  of  friendship  and  advance.  I  stated, 
as  vigorously  as  I  was  able,  that  usefulness  in  the 
community  where  we  resided  was  our  surest  and  most 
potent  protection. 

One  other  point  which  I  made  plain  in  this  speech 
was  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  Negro  should  seek 
constantly  in  every  manly,  straightforward  manner 
to  make  friends  of  the  white  man  by  whose  side 
he  lived,  rather  than  to  content  himself  with  seek- 
ing the  good-will  of  some  man  a  thousand  miles 
away. 

While  I  was  fully  convinced,  in  my  own  mind, 
that  the  policy  which  I  had  outlined  was  the  cor- 
rect one,  I '  was  not  at  all  prepared  for  the  wide- 
spread interest  with  which  my  words  were  re- 
ceived. 

I  received  telegrams  and  congratulations  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  and  from  many  persons  whose 
names  I  did  not  know  or  had  heard  of  only  indirectly 
through  the  newspapers  or  otherwise.  Very  soon 
invitations  began  to  come  to  me  in  large  numbers 
to  speak  before  all  kinds  of  bodies  and  on  all  kinds 
of  subjects.     In  many  cases  I  was  offered  for  my 


108  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

addresses  what  appeared  to  me  almost  fabulous 
sums.  Some  of  the  lecture  bureaus  offered  me  as 
high  as  $300  and  $400  a  night  for  as  long  a  period 
as  I  would  speak  for  them.  Among  other  things 
which  came  to  me  was  an  offer  from  a  prominent 
Western  newspaper  of  $1000  and  all  expenses 
for  my  services  if  I  would  describe  for  it  a  famous 
prize-fight. 

I  was  invited,  here  and  there,  to  take  part  in 
political  campaigns,  especially  in  states  where  the 
Negro  vote  was  important.  Lecture  bureaus  not 
only  urged  upon  me  the  acceptance  of  their  offers 
through  letters,  but  even  sent  agents  to  Tuskegee. 
Newspapers  and  magazines  made  generous  offers 
to  me  to  write  special  articles  for  them.  I  decided, 
however,  to  wait  until  I  could  get  my  bearings. 
Apparently  the  words  which  I  had  spoken  at  At- 
lanta, simple  and  almost  commonplace  as  they  were, 
had  touched  a  deep  and  responsive  chord  in  the 
public  mind.*     This  gave  me  much  to  think  about. 

*The  following  is  copied  from  the  official   history  of  the  exposition: 

"  Then  came  Booker  T.  Washington,  who  was  destined  to  make  a  national 
reputation  in  the  next  fifteen  minutes.  He  appeared  on  the  programme  by 
invitation  of  the  directors  as  the  representative  of  the  Negro  race.  This  would 
appear  to  have  been  a  natural  arrangement,  if  not  a  matter  of  course,  and  it 
seems  strange  now  that  there  should  have  been  any  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom 
or  propriety  of  giving  the  Negro  a  place  in  the  opening  exercises.  Neverthe- 
less, there  was,  and  the  question  was  carefully,  even  anxiously,  considered  before 
it  was  decided.  There  were  apprehensions  that  the  matter  would  encourage 
social  equality  and  prove  offensive  to  the  white  people,  and  in  the  end  unsatis- 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  109 

In  the  meantime  I  determined  to  stick  close  to  my 
work  at  Tuskegee. 

One  of  the  most  surprising  results  of  my  Atlanta 
speech  was  the  number  of  letters,  telegrams,  and 
newspaper  editorials  that  came  pouring  in  upon  me 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  demanding  that  I 
take  the  place  of  "leader  of  the  Negro  people," 
left  vacant  by  Frederick  Douglass's  death,  or  assum- 
ing that  I  had  already  taken  this  place.  Until 
these  suggestions  began  to  pour  in  upon  me,  I 
never  had  the  remotest  idea  that  I  should  be  selected 
or  looked  upon,  in  any  such  sense  as  Frederick  Doug- 
lass had  been,  as  a  leader  of  the  Negro  people.  I 
was  at  that  time  merely  a  Negro  school  teacher  in 
a  rather  obscure  industrial  school.  I  had  devoted 
all  my  time  and  attention  to  the  work  of  organizing 
and  bringing  into  existence  the  Tuskegee  Institute, 
and  I  did  not  know  just  what  the  functions  and 


factory  to  the  coloured  race.  But  the  discussion  satisfied  the  board  that  this 
course  was  right,  and  they  resolved  to  risk  the  expediency  of  doing  right. 
The  sequel  showed  the  wisdom  of  their  decision.  The  orator  himself  touched 
upon  the  subject  with  great  tact,  and  the  recognition  that  was  given  has  greatly 
tended  to  promote  good  feeling  between  the  races,  while  the  wide  and  self- 
respecting  course  of  the  Negroes  on  that  occasion  has  raised  them  greatly  in 
the  estimation  of  their  white  fellow-citizens." 

In  introducing  the  speaker,  Governor  Bullock  said:  "We  have  with  us  to-day 
the  representative  of  Negro  enterprise  and  Negro  civilization.  I  have  the 
honour  to  introduce  to  you  Prof.  Booker  T.  Washington,  principal  of  the 
Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  College,  who  will  formally  present  the  Negro 
exhibit." 

Professor  Washington  was  greeted  with  applause,  and  his  speech  received 
marked  attention. 


no  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

duties  of  a  leader  were,  or  what  was  expected  of  him 
on  the  part  of  the  coloured  people  or  of  the  rest  of 
the  world.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  I 
began  to  find  out  what  was  expected  of  me  in  the 
new  position  into  which  a  sudden  newspaper  noto- 
riety seemed  to  have  thrust  me. 

I  was  not  a  little  embarrassed,  when  I  first  began 
to  appear  in  public,  to  find  myself  continually  re- 
ferred to  as  "the  successor  of  Frederick  Douglass." 
Wherever  I  spoke  —  whether  in  the  North  or  in 
the  South  —  I  found,  thanks  to  the  advertising 
I  had  received,  that  large  audiences  turned  out  to 
hear  me. 

It  has  been  interesting,  and  sometimes  amusing, 
to  note  the  amount  and  variety  of  disinterested 
advice  received  by  a  man  whose  name  is  to  any 
extent  before  the  public.  During  the  time  that  my 
Atlanta  address  was,  so  to  speak,  under  discussion, 
and  almost  every  day  since,  I  have  received  one  or 
more  letters  advising  me  and  directing  my  course 
in  regard  to  matters  of  public  interest. 

One  day  I  receive  a  letter,  or  my  attention  is 
.called  to  some  newspaper  editorial,  in  which  I  am 
advised  to  stick  to  my  work  at  Tuskegee  and  put 
aside  every  other  interest  that  I  may  have  in  the 
advancement  of  my  race.  A  day  or  two  later  I 
may  receive  a  letter,  or  read  an  editorial  in  a  news- 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  in 

paper,  saying  that  I  am  making  a  mistake  in  confin- 
ing my  attention  entirely  to  Tuskegee,  to  Negro 
education,  or  even  to  the  Negro  in  the  United  States. 
It  has  been  frequently  urgeH  upon  me,  for  example, 
that  I  ought,  in  some  way  or  other,  to  extend  the 
work  that  we  are  trying  to  do  at  Tuskegee  to  Africa 
or  to  the  West  Indies,  where  Negroes  are  a  larger 
part  of  the  population  than  in  this  country. 

There  has  been  a  small  number  of  white  people 
and  an  equally  small  number  of  coloured  people 
who  felt,  after  my  Atlanta  speech,  that  1  ought  to 
branch  out  and  discuss  political  questions,  putting 
emphasis  upon  the  importance  of  political  activity 
and  success  for  the  members  of  my  race.  Others, 
who  thought  it  quite  natural  that,  while  I  was  in 
the  South,  I  should  not  say  anything  that  would  be 
offensive,  expected  that  I  would  cut  loose  in  the 
North  and  denounce  the  Southern  people  in  a  way 
to  keep  alive  and  intensify  the  sectional  differences 
which  had  sprung  up  as  a  result  of  slavery  and  the 
Civil  War.  Still  others  thought  that  there  was 
something  lacking  in  my  style  of  defending  the 
Negro.  I  went  too  much  into  the  facts  and  did 
not  say  enough  about  the  Rights  of  Man  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

When  these  people  found  that  I  did  not  change 
my  policy  as  a  result  of  my  Atlanta  speech,  but 


ii2  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

stuck  to  my  old  line  of  argument,  urging  the  im- 
portance of  education  of  the  hand,  the  head,  and 
the  heart,  they  were  thoroughly  disappointed.  So 
far  as  my  addresses  made  it  appear  that  the  race 
troubles  in  the  South  could  be  solved  by  education 
rather  than  by  political  measures,  they  felt  that  I 
was  putting  the  emphasis  in  the  wrong  place. 

I  confess  that  all  these  criticisms  and  suggestions 
were  not  without  effect  upon  my  mind.  But,  after 
thinking  the  matter  all  over,  I  decided  that,  pleas- 
ant as  it  might  be  to  follow  the  programme  that 
was  laid  out  for  me,  I  should  be  compelled  to  stick 
to  my  original  job  and  work  out  my  salvation  along 
the  lines  that  I  had  originally  laid  down  for  myself. 

My  determination  to  stand  by  the  programme 
which  I  had  worked  out  during  the  years  that  I 
had  been  at  Tuskegee  and  which  I  had  expressed 
in  my  Atlanta  speech,  soon  brought  me  into  conflict 
with  a  small  group  of  coloured  people  who  sometimes 
styled  themselves  "The  Intellectuals,"  at  other 
times  "The  Talented  Tenth."  As  most  of  these 
men  were  graduates  of  Northern  colleges  and  made 
their  homes  for  the  most  part  in  the  North,  it  was 
natural  enough,  I  suppose,  that  they  should  feel 
that  leadership  in  all  race  matters  should  remain, 
as  heretofore,  in  the  North.  At  any  rate,  they  were 
opposed  to  any  change  from  the  policy  of  uncom- 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  113 

promising  and  relentless  antagonism  to  the  South 
so  long  as  there  seemed  to  them  to  be  anything  in 
Southern  conditions  wrong  or  unjust  to  the  Negro. 

My  life  in  the  South  and  years  of  study  and  effort 
in  connection  with  actual  and  concrete  problems  of 
Southern  life  had  given  me  a  different  notion,  and 
I  believed  that  I  had  gained  some  knowledge  and 
some  insight  which  they  were  not  able  to  obtain 
in  the  same  degree  at  a  distance  and  from  the  study 
of  books. 

The  first  thing  to  which  they  objected  was  my 
plan  for  the  industrial  education  of  the  Negro. 
It  seemed  to  them  that  in  teaching  coloured  people 
to  work  with  the  hands  I  was  making  too  great  a 
concession  to  public  opinion  in  the  South.  Some  of 
them  thought,  probably,  that  I  did  not  really  be- 
lieve in  industrial  education  myself;  but  in  any 
case  they  were  opposed  to  any  "concession,"  no 
matter  whether  industrial  education  was  good 
or  bad. 

According  to  their  way  of  looking  at  the  matter, 
the  Southern  white  man  was  the  natural  enemy 
of  the  Negro,  and  any  attempt,  no  matter  for  what 
purpose,  to  gain  his  sympathy  or  support  must  be 
regarded  as  a  kind  of  treason  to  the  race. 

All  these  matters  furnished  fruitful  subjects  for 
controversy,  in  all  of  which  the  college  graduates 


ii4  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

that  I  have  referred  to  were  naturally  the  leaders. 
The  first  thing  that  such  a  young  man  was  tempted 
to  do  after  leaving  college  was,  it  seems,  to  start 
out  on  a  lecturing  tour,  travelling  about  from  one 
town  to  another  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  what 
are  known  as  "race"  subjects. 

I  remember  one  young  man  in  particular  who 
graduated  from  Yale  University  and  afterward 
took  a  post-graduate  course  at  Harvard,  and  who 
began  his  career  by  delivering  a  series  of  lectures 
on  "The  Mistakes  of  Booker  T.  Washington." 
It  was  not  long,  however,  before  he  found  that  he 
could  not  live  continuously  on  my  mistakes.  Then 
he  discovered  that  in  all  his  long  schooling  he  had 
not  fitted  himself  to  perform  any  kind  of  useful 
and  productive  labour.  After  he  had  failed  in 
several  other  directions  he  appealed  to  me,  and  I 
tried  to  find  something  for  him  to  do.  It  is  pretty 
hard,  however,  to  help  a  young  man  who  has  started 
wrong.  Once  he  gets  the  idea  that  —  because  he 
has  crammed  his  head  full  with  mere  book  knowl- 
edge—  the  world  owes  him  a  living,  it  is  hard  for 
him  to  change.  The  last  I  heard  of  the  young  man 
in  question,  he  was  trying  to  eke  out  a  miserable 
existence  as  a  book  agent  while  he  was  looking  about 
for  a  position  somewhere  with  the  Government  as  a 
janitor  or  for  some  other  equally  humble  occupation. 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  115 

When  I  meet  cases,  as  I  frequently  do,  of  such 
unfortunate  and  misguided  young  men  as  I  have 
described,  I  cannot  but  feel  the  most  profound 
sympathy  for  them,  because  I  know  that  they  are  not 
wholly  to  blame  for  their  condition.  I  know  that, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  they  have  gained  the  idea 
at  some  point  in  their  career  that,  because  they  are 
Negroes,  they  are  entitled  to  the  special  sympathy 
of  the  world,  and  they  have  thus  got  into  the  habit 
of  relying  on  this  sympathy  rather  than  on  their 
own  efforts  to  make  their  way. 

In  college  they  gave  little  thought  or  attention 
to  preparing  for  any  definite  task  in  the  world,  but 
started  out  with  the  idea  of  preparing  themselves 
to  solve  the  race  problem.  They  learned  in  college 
a  great  deal  about  the  history  of  New  England  free- 
dom; their  minds  were  filled  with  the  traditions  of 
the  anti-slavery  struggle;  and  they  came  out  of 
college  with  the  idea  that  the  only  thing  necessary 
to  solve  at  once  every  problem  in  the  South  was 
to  apply  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Bill  of  Rights.  They 
had  learned  in  their  studies  little  of  the 
actual  present-day  conditions  in  the  South 
and  had  not  considered  the  profound  difference 
between  the  political  problem  and  the  educational 
problem,   between   the  work  of  destruction  and  of 


n6  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

construction,  as  it  applies  to  the  task  of  race 
building. 

Among  the  most  trying  class  of  people  with  whom 
I  come  in  contact  are  the  persons  who  have  been 
educated  in  books  to  the  extent  that  they  are  able, 
upon  every  occasion,  to  quote  a  phrase  or  a  senti- 
ment from  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Cicero,  or  some 
other  great  writer.  Every  time  any  problem  arises 
they  are  on  the  spot  with  a  phrase  or  a  quotation. 
No  problem  is  so  difficult  that  they  are  not  able, 
with  a  definition  or  abstraction  of  some  kind,  to 
solve  it.  I  like  phrases,  and  I  frequently  find  them 
useful  and  convenient  in  conversation,  but  I  have 
not  found  in  them  a  solution  for  many  of  the 
actual  problems  of  life. 

In  college  they  studied  problems  and  solved 
them  on  paper.  But  these  problems  had  already 
been  solved  by  some  one  else,  and  all  that  they  had 
to  do  was  to  learn  the  answers.  They  had  never 
faced  any  unsolved  problems  in  college,  and  all  that 
they  had  learned  had  not  taught  them  the  patience 
and  persistence  which  alone  solve  real  problems. 

I  remember  hearing  this  fact  illustrated  in  a  very 
apt  way  by  a  coloured  minister  some  years  ago. 
After  great  sacrifice  and  effort  he  had  constructed 
in  the  South  a  building  to  be  used  for  the  purpose 
of   sheltering  orphans   and   aged   coloured   women. 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  117 

After  this  minister  had  succeeded  in  getting  his 
building  constructed  and  paid  for,  a  young  coloured 
man  came  to  inspect  it  and  at  once  began  pointing 
out  the  defects  in  the  building.  The  minister 
listened  patiently  for  some  time  and  then,  turning 
to  the  young  man,  he  said:  "My  friend,  you  have 
an  advantage  over  me."  Then  he  paused  and 
looked  at  the  young  man,  and  the  young  man  looked 
inquiringly  at  the  minister,  who  continued:  "I  am 
not  able  to  find  fault  with  any  building  which  you 
have  constructed." 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  add,  in  order  that  my  state- 
ments may  not  be  misleading,  that  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  the  type  of  college  man  that  I  have  de- 
scribed is  confined  to  the  members  of  my  own  race. 
Every  kind  of  life  produces  its  own  peculiar  kind  of 
failures,  and  they  are  not  confined  to  one  race.  It 
would  be  quite  as  wrong  for  me  to  give  the  impres- 
sion that  the  description  which  I  have  given  applies 
to  all  coloured  graduates  of  New  England  or  other 
colleges  and  to  none  others.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
almost  from  the  beginning  we  have  had  men  from 
these  colleges  at  Tuskegee;  I  have  come  into  contact 
with  others  at  work  in  various  institutions  of  the 
South;  and  I  have  found  that  some  of  the  sanest 
and  most  useful  workers  were  those  who  had 
graduated    at    Harvard    and    other    New    England 


u8  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

colleges.     Those  to  whom  I  have  referred  are  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

There  is  another  class  of  coloured  people  who 
make  a  business  of  keeping  the  troubles,  the  wrongs, 
and  the  hardships  of  the  Negro  race  before  the 
public.  Having  learned  that  they  are  able  to  make 
a  living  out  of  their  troubles,  they  have  grown  into 
the  settled  habit  of  advertising  their  wrongs  —  partly 
because  they  want  sympathy  and  partly  because 
it  pays.  Some  of  these  people  do  not  want 
the  Negro  to  lose  his  grievances,  because  they  do 
do  not  want  to  lose  their  jobs. 

A  story  told  me  by  a  coloured  man  in  South  Caro- 
lina will  illustrate  how  people  sometimes  get  into 
situations  where  they  do  not  like  to  part  with  their 
grievances.  In  a  certain  community  there  was  a 
coloured  doctor  of  the  old  school,  who  knew  little 
about  modern  ideas  of  medicine,  but  who  in  some 
way  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  and  had 
made  considerable  money  by  his  own  peculiar  meth- 
ods of  treatment.  In  this  community  there  was 
an  old  lady  who  happened  to  be  pretty  well  provided 
with  this  world's  goods  and  who  thought  that  she 
had  a  cancer.  For  twenty  years  she  had  enjoyed 
the  luxury  of  having  this  old  doctor  treat  her  for 
that  cancer.  As  the  old  doctor  became  —  thanks 
to    the    cancer     and     to    other    practice  —  pretty 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  119 

well-to-do,  he  decided  to  send  one  of  his  boys  to  a 
medical  college.  After  graduating  from  the 
medical  school,  the  young  man  returned  home,  and 
his  father  took  a  vacation.  During  this  time  the 
old  lady  who  was  afflicted  with  the  "cancer"  called 
in  the  young  man,  who  treated  her;  within  a  few 
weeks  the  cancer  (or  what  was  supposed  to  be  the 
cancer)  disappeared,  and  the  old  lady  declared 
herself  well. 

When  the  father  of  the  boy  returned  and  found 
the  patient  on  her  feet  and  perfectly  well,  he  was 
outraged.  He  called  the  young  man  before  him 
and  said:  "My  son,  I  find  that  you  have  cured  that 
cancer  case  of  mine.  Now,  son,  let  me  tell  you 
something.  I  educated  you  on  that  cancer.  I 
put  you  through  high  school,  through  college,  and 
finally  through  the  medical  school  on  that  cancer. 
And  now  you,  with  your  new  ideas  of  practising 
medicine,  have  come  here  and  cured  that  cancer. 
Let  me  tell  you,  son,  you  have  started  all  wrong. 
How  do  you  expect  to  make  a  living  practising 
medicine  in  that  way?" 

I  am  afraid  that  there  is  a  certain  class  of  race- 
problem  solvers  who  don't  want  the  patient  to 
get  well,  because  as  long  as  the  disease  holds 
out  they  have  not  only  an  easy  means  of 
making  a   living,  but  also  an  easy  medium  through 


izo  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

which  to  make   themselves    prominent   before  the 
public. 

My  experience  is  that  people  who'  call  themselves 
"The  Intellectuals"  understand  theories,  but  they 
do  not  understand  things.  I  have  long  been  con- 
vinced that,  if  these  men  could  have  gone  into  the 
South  and  taken  up  and  become  interested  in  some 
practical  work  which  would  have  brought  them 
in  touch  with  people  and  things,  the  whole  world 
would  have  looked  very  different  to  them.  Bad 
as  conditions  might  have  seemed  at  first,  when  they 
saw  that  actual  progress  was  being  made,  they 
would  have  taken  a  more  hopeful  view  of  the 
situation. 

But  the  environment  in  which  they  were  raised 
had  cast  them  in  another  world.  For  them  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  insist  on  the  application  of 
the  abstract  principles  of  protest.  Indignation 
meetings  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  became  at  one 
time  so  frequent  as  to  be  a  nuisance.  It  would  not 
have  been  so  bad  if  the  meetings  had  been  confined 
to  the  subjects  for  which  they  were  proposed;  but 
when  "The  Intellectuals"  found  that  the  Southern 
people  rarely,  if  ever,  heard  of  their  protests  and, 
if  they  did  hear  of  them,  paid  no  attention  to  them, 
they  began  to  attack  the  persons  nearer  home. 
They  began  to  attack  the  people  of  Boston  because 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  121 

they  said  that  the  people  of  Boston  had  lost  interest 
in  the  cause  of  the  Negro.  After  attacking  the 
friends  of  the  Negro  elsewhere,  particularly  all  those 
who  happened  to  disagree  with  them  as  to  the  exact 
method  of  aiding  the  Negro,  they  made  me  a  fre- 
quent and  favourite  object  of  attack  —  not  merely 
for  the  reasons  which  I  have  already  stated,  but 
because  they  felt  that  if  they  attacked  me  in  some 
particularly  violent  way  it  would  surprise  people 
and  attract  attention.  There  is  no  satisfaction  in 
holding  meetings  and  formulating  protests  unless 
you  can  get  them  into  the  newspapers.  I  do  not 
really  believe  that  these  people  think  as  badly  of  the 
person  whom  they  have  attacked  at  different  times 
as  their  words  would  indicate.  They  are  merely 
using  them  as  a  sort  of  sounding-board  or  mega- 
phone to  make  their  own  voices  carry  farther.  The 
persistence  and  success  with  which  these  men  sought 
this  kind  of  advertising  has  led  the  general  public 
to  believe  the  number  of  my  opponents  among 
the  Negro  masses  to  be  much  larger  than  it 
actually  is. 

A  few  years  ago  when  I  was  in  Boston  and  the 
subject  of  those  who  were  opposing  me  was  under 
discussion,  a  coloured  friend  of  mine,  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  so-called  "Talented  Tenth,"  used 
an  illustration  which  has  stuck  in  my  mind.     He  was 


122  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

originally  from  the  South,  although  he  had  lived 
in  Boston  for  a  number  of  years.  He  said  that  he 
had  once  lived  in  Virginia,  near  a  fashionable  hotel. 
One  day  a  bright  idea  struck  him  and  he  went  to 
the  proprietor  of  the  hotel  and  made  a  bargain 
to  furnish  him  regularly  with  a  large  number  of 
frogs,  which  were  in  great  demand  as  a  table  delicacy. 
The  proprietor  asked  him  how  many  he  could  fur- 
nish. My  friend  replied  that  he  felt  quite  sure 
that  he  could  furnish  him  with  a  cart-load,  if  nec- 
essary, once  a  week.  The  bargain  was  concluded. 
The  man  was  to  deliver  at  the  hotel  the  following 
day  as  large  a  number  of  frogs  as  possible. 

When  he  appeared,  my  friend  had  just  six  frogs. 
The  proprietor  looked  at  the  frogs,  and  then  at 
my  friend. 

"Where  are  the  others?"  he  said. 

"Well,  it  is  this  way,"  my  friend  replied;  "for 
months  I  had  heard  those  bull-frogs  in  a  pond  near 
my  house,  and  they  made  so  much  noise  that  I 
supposed  there  were  at  least  a  million  of  them 
there.  When  I  came  to  investigate,  however,  I 
found  that  there  were  only  six. " 

Inspired  by  their  ambition  to  "make  themselves 
heard,"  and,  as  they  said,  compel  the  public  to 
pay  attention  to  their  grievances,  this  little  group 
kept  up  their  agitation  in  various  forms  and  at  differ- 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  123 

ent  places,  until  their  plans  culminated  one  night 
in  Boston  in  1903.  To  convince  the  public  how  deep 
and  sincere  they  were  in  their  peculiar  views,  and 
how  profoundly  opposed  they  were  to  every  one 
who  had  a  different  opinion,  they  determined  to 
do  something  desperate.  The  coloured  citizens 
of  Boston  had  asked  me  to  deliver  an  address  be- 
fore them  in  one  of  their  largest  churches.  The 
meeting  was  widely  advertised,  and  there  was  a 
large  audience  present.  Unknown  to  any  of  my 
coloured  friends  in  Boston,  this  group,  who,  as  I 
have  stated,  were  mostly  graduates  of  New  England 
colleges,  organized  a  mob  to  disturb  the  meeting 
and  to  break  it  up  if  possible.  The  presiding  officer 
at  the  meeting  was  the  Hon.  William  H.  Lewis, 
a  graduate  of  Amherst  College  and  of  the  Harvard 
Law  School.  Various  members  of  the  group  were 
scattered  in  different  parts  of  the  church.  In 
addition  to  themselves  there  were  present  in  the 
audience  —  and  this,  better  than  anything  else, 
shows  how  far  they  had  been  carried  in  their  fa- 
naticism —  some  of  the  lowest  men  and  women  from 
vile  dens  in  Boston,  whom  they  had  in  some  way 
or  other  induced  to  come  in  and  help  them  disturb 
the  meeting. 

As  soon  as  I  began  speaking,  the  leaders,  stationed 
in  various  parts  of  the  house,  began  asking  questions. 


124  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

In  this  and  in  a  number  of  other  ways  they  tried 
to  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  speak.  Naturally 
the  rest  of  the  audience  resented  this,  and  eventually 
it  was  necessary  to  call  in  the  police  and  arrest  the 
disturbers. 

Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  disturbance  was  over, 
most  of  those  who  had  participated  in  it  were 
ashamed  of  what  they  had  done.  Many  of  those 
who  had  classed  themselves  with  "The  Intellectuals" 
before,  hastened  to  disavow  any  sympathy  with 
the  methods  of  the  men  who  had  organized  the 
disturbance.  Many  who  had  before  been  luke- 
warm in  their  friendship  became  my  closest  friends. 
Of  course  the  two  leaders,  who  were  afterward 
convicted  and  compelled  to  serve  a  sentence  in 
the  Charles  Street  Jail,  remained  unrepentant. 
They  tried  to  convince  themselves  that  they  had 
been  made  martyrs  in  a  great  cause,  but  they  did 
not  get  much  encouragement  in  this  notion  from 
other  coloured  people,  because  it  was  not  possible 
for  them  to  make  clear  just  what  the  cause  was  for 
which  they  had  suffered. 

The  masses  of  coloured  people  in  Boston  and  in 
the  United  States  indorsed  me  by  resolution  and 
condemned  the  disturbers  of  the  meeting.  The 
Negro  newspapers  as  a  whole  were  scathing  in  their 
criticism  of  them.     For  weeks  afterward  my  mail 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  125 

•was  filled  with  letters  from  coloured  people,  asking 
me  to  visit  various  sections  and  speak  to  the 
people. 

I  was  intensely  interested  in  observing  the  results 
of  this  disturbance.  For  one  thing  I  wanted  to  find 
out  whether  a  principle  in  human  nature  that  I 
had  frequently  observed  elsewhere  would  prove 
true  in  this  case. 

I  have  found  in  my  dealings  with  the  Negro  race 
—  and  I  believe  that  the  same  is  true  of  all  races  — 
that  the  only  Way  to  hold  people  together  is  by  means 
of  a  constructive,  progressive  programme.  It  is 
not  argument,  nor  criticism,  nor  hatred,  but  work 
in  constructive  effort,  that  gets  hold  of  men  and 
binds  them  together  in  a  way  to  make  them  rally 
to  the  support  of  a  common  cause. 

Before  many  weeks  had  passed,  these  leaders 
began  to  disagree  among  themselves.  Then  they 
began  to  quarrel,  and  one  by  one  they  began  to 
drop  away.  The  result  is  that,  at  the  present  time, 
the  group  has  been  almost  completely  dispersed 
and  scattered.  Many  of  "The  Intellectuals"  to- 
day do  not  speak  to  one  another. 

The  most  surprising  thing  about  this  disturbance, 
I  confess,  is  the  fact  that  it  was  organized  by  the 
very  people  who  have  been  loudest  in  condemning 
the  Southern  white  people  because  they  had  sup- 


i26  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

pressed  the  expression  of  opinion  on  public  questions 
and  denied  the  Negro  the  right  of  free  speech. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  have  talked  to  audiences 
in  every  part  of  this  country;  I  have  talked  to 
coloured  audiences  in  the  North  and  to  white 
audiences  in  the  South;  I  have  talked  to  audiences 
of  both  races  in  all  parts  of  the  South;  everywhere 
I  have  spoken  frankly  and,  I  believe,  sincerely 
on  everything  that  I  had  in  my  mind  and  heart  to 
say.  When  I  had  something  to  say  about  the  white 
people  I  said  it  to  the  white  people;  when  I  had 
something  to  say  about  coloured  people  I  said  it 
to  coloured  people.  In  all  these  years  —  that  is 
the  curious  thing  about  it  —  no  effort  has  been 
made,  so  far  as  I  can  remember,  to  interrupt  or 
to  break  up  a  meeting  at  which  I  was  present  until 
it  was  attempted  by  "The  Intellectuals"  of  my  own 
race  in  Boston. 

I  have  gone  to  some  length  to  describe  this  inci- 
dent because  it  seems  to  me  to  show  clearly  the 
defects  of  that  type  of  mind  which  the  so-called 
"Intellectuals"  of  the  race  represent. 

I  do  not  wish  to  give  the  impression  by  what  I 
have  said  that,  behind  all  the  intemperance  and 
extravagance  of  these  men,  there  is  not  a  vein  of 
genuine  feeling  and  even  at  times  of  something  like 
real  heroism.     The  trouble  is   that  all  this  fervour 


THE  INTELLECTUALS  127 

and  intensity  is  wasted  on  side  issues  and  trivial 
matters.  It  does  not  connect  itself  with  anything 
that  is  helpful  and  constructive.  These  crusaders, 
as  nearly  as  I  can  see,  are  fighting  windmills. 

The  truth  is,  I  suspect,  as  I  have  already  suggested, 
that  "The  Intellectuals"  live  too  much  in  the  past. 
They  know  books  but  they  do  not  know  men.  They 
know  a  great  deal  about  the  slavery  controversy, 
for  example,  but  they  know  almost  nothing  about 
the  Negro.  Especially  are  they  ignorant  in  regard 
to  the  actual  needs  of  the  masses  of  the  coloured 
people  in  the  South  to-day. 

There  are  some  things  that  one  individual  can 
do  for  another,  and  there  are  some  things  that  one 
race  can  do  for  another.  But,  on  the  whole,  every 
individual  and  every  race  must  work  out  its  own 
salvation.  Let  me  add  that  if  one  thing  more  than 
another  has  taught  me  to  have  confidence  in  the 
masses  of  my  own  people  it  has  been  their  willingness 
(and  even  eagerness)  to  learn  and  their  disposi- 
tion to  help  themselves  and  depend  upon  them- 
selves as  soon  as  they  have  learned  how  to  do  so. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A    COMMENCEMENT   ORATION    ON    CABBAGES 

ONE  of  the  advantages  of  a  new  people  or  a 
new  race  —  such  as,  to  a  very  large  extent, 
the  American  Negroes  are  —  consists  in 
the  fact  that  they  are  not  hampered,  as  other 
peoples  sometimes  are,  by  tradition.  In  the  matter 
of  education,  for  example,  Negroes  in  the  South 
are  not  hampered  by  tradition,  because  they  have 
never  had  any  worth  speaking  of.  As  a  race  we  are 
free,  if  we  so  choose,  to  adopt  at  once  the  very 
latest  and  most  approved  methods  of  education, 
because  we  are  not  held  back  by  any  wornout 
tradition;  and  we  have  few  bad  educational  habits 
to  be  got  rid  of  before  we  can  start  in  to  employ 
newer  and  better  methods. 

I  have  sometimes  regarded  it  as  a  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance that  I  never  studied  pedagogy.  If  I 
had  done  so,  every  time  I  attempted  to  do  anything 
in  a  new  way  I  should  have  felt  compelled  to  reckon 
with  all  the  past,  and  in  my  case  that  would  have 

128 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  129 

taken  so  much  time  that  I  should  never  have  got 
anywhere.  As  it  was,  I  was  perfectly  free  to  go 
ahead  and  do  whatever  seemed  necessary  at  the 
time,  without  reference  to  whether  that  same  thing 
had  ever  been  done  by  any  one  else  at  any  previous 
time  or  not. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  too  much 
learning  will  hamper  a  man  who  finds  himself  in 
the  presence  of  a  new  problem  —  one  not  in  the 
books  —  I  recall  the  fate  of  the  young  Harvard 
graduate  who  was  a  teacher  at  Tuskegee  for  one  or 
two  sessions  several  years  ago.  This  young  man 
had  very  little  practical  experience  as  a  teacher, 
but  he  had  made  a  special  study  of  the  subject 
of  education  while  he  was  in  college;  largely  because 
of  his  high  scholarship,  he  was  given  a  position  as 
teacher  of  education  at  Tuskegee. 

I  am  afraid  that,  until  he  arrived,  we  knew  very 
little  about  pedagogy  at  Tuskegee.  He  proceeded  to 
enlighten  us,  however.  He  lectured  and  preached  to 
us  about  Comenius,  Rousseau,  Pestalozzi,  and  all  the 
others,  and  what  he  said  was  very  interesting.  The 
trouble  was  that  he  made  a  complete  failure  in  his 
own  classes.  But  that  was  not  all.  We  were  trying 
to  fit  our  students  to  go  out  as  teachers  in  the  rural 
districts.  I  pointed  out  to  him  that  if  he  were 
going  to  help  them  to  any  great  extent  it  would 


130  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

V 
be  necessary  for  him  to  study  the  conditions  of  the 

country  people  and  to  get  acquainted  with  some  of 
the  actual  problems  of  a  small,  rural  Negro  com- 
munity. He  did  not  seem  to  regard  that  as  impor- 
tant, because,  as  he  said,  the  principles  were  the 
same  in  every  case  and  all  that  was  necessary  was  to 
apply  them. 

I  told  him,  then,  that  I  thought  we  had  worked 
out  at  Tuskegee  a  number  of  definite  methods  of 
dealing  with  the  problems  of  these  rural  commu- 
nities, and  suggested  to  him  that  if  he  wanted  to 
teach  the  general  principles  he  ought  to  work  out  a 
theory  for  these  methods,  so  that  the  teachers  and 
students  might  understand  the  principles  under 
which  they  were  actually  working.  He  did  not 
seem  to  take  this  suggestion  seriously.  It  seemed 
absurd  to  him  that  any  one  should  come  down  to 
the  Black  Belt  of  Alabama  to  look  for  anything  new 
in  the  matter  of  education.  In  short,  his  mind 
was  so  burdened  with  the  traditions  and  knowledge 
of  other  systems  of  education  that  he  could  not 
see  anything  in  any  kind  of  education  that  seemed 
to  break  with  these  traditions.  In  fact,  he  seemed 
to  feel,  whenever  he  did  discover  anything  new  or 
strange  about  the  methods  that  we  employed, 
that  there  must  be  something  either  wrong  or 
dangerous  about  them. 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  131 

My  own  early  experience  was,  I  suppose,  like  that 
of  most  other  teachers;  I  picked  up  quite  naturally 
those  methods  of  teaching  that  were  in  vogue  around 
me  or  that  seemed  to  be  prescribed  by  the  text- 
books. My  method  consisted  in  asking  pupils 
to  learn  what  was  in  the  book,  and  then  requiring 
them  to  recite  it. 

I  shall  long  remember  the  time  when  the  folly 
and  uselessness  of  much  of  the  old-time  method 
of  teaching  first  fairly  dawned  upon  me.  I  was 
teaching  a  country  school  near  my  old  home  in 
West  Virginia.  This  school  was  located  near  a 
piece  of  land  that  was  wet  and  marshy,  but  never- 
theless beautiful  in  appearance.  It  was  June  and 
the  day  was  hot  and  sultry;  when  the  usual  recess 
or  playtime  came,  I  was  as  anxious  as  the  children 
were  to  get  outside  of  the  close  and  stuffy  school 
room  into  the  open  air.  That  day  I  prolonged  the 
playtime  to  more  than  twice  the  usual  period. 

The  hour  previous  to  recess  had  been  employed 
by  me  in  trying  to  get  a  class  of  children  interested 
in  what  proved  to  be  a  rather  stupid  geography 
lesson.  I  had  been  asking  my  pupils  a  lot  of  dull 
and  tiresome  questions,  getting  them  to  define 
and  name  lakes,  capes,  peninsulas,  islands,  and  so 
forth.  Naturally  the  answers  of  the  children  were 
quite  as  dull  and  stupid  as  the  questions. 


i3  2  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

As  soon  as  the  children  were  out  of  doors  at 
playtime,  however,  they  all,  as  if  by  common  in- 
stinct, scampered  off  into  the  marshes.  In  a  few 
seconds  they  were  wading  in  the  cool  water,  jumping 
about  in  the  fragrant  grass,  and  enjoying  themselves 
in  a  way  that  was  in  striking  contrast  to  the  dull 
labour  of  the  geography  lesson.  I  soon  became 
infected  with  the  general  fever;  and  in  a  few  minutes 
I  found  myself  following  the  children  at  a  rapid 
rate  and  entering  into  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
contrast  between  the  dull,  dead  atmosphere  of  the 
school  room  and  the  vivid  tingling  sense  of  the 
living  out-doors. 

We  had  not  been  out  of  the  school  house  and  away 
from  the  old  geography  lesson  long  before  one  of 
the  boys  who  had  been  among  the  dullest  in  his 
recitation  in  the  school  room  became  the  leader 
of  a  sort  of  exploring  party.  Under  his  leadership 
we  began  to  discover,  as  we  waded  along  the  stream, 
dozens  of  islands,  capes,  and  peninsulas,  with  here 
and  there  a  little  lake  or  bay,  which,  as  some  of 
the  pupils  pointed  out,  would  furnish  a  safe  harbour 
for  ships  if  the  stream  were  only  large  enough. 
Soon  every  one  of  the  children  was  busy  pointing 
out  and  naming  the  natural  divisions  of  land  and 
water.  And  then,  after  a  few  days,  we  got  pieces 
of  wood   and   bark   and   let   them   float  down   the 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  133 

stream;  we  imagined  them  to  be  great  ships  carry- 
ing their  cargoes  of  merchandise  from  one  part  of 
the  world  to  another.  We  studied  the  way  the 
stream  wandered  about  in  the  level  land,  and  noticed 
how  the  little  sand  bars  and  the  corresponding 
harbours  were  formed  by  the  particles  of  sand  and 
earth  which  were  rolled  down  by  the  stream.  We 
located  cities  on  these  harbours,  and  tried  to  find 
water-power  where  we  might  build  up  manufac- 
turing centres. 

Before  long  I  discovered  that,  quite  unconsciously, 
we  had  taken  up  again  the  lessons  in  the  school 
room  and  were  studying  geography  after  a  new 
fashion.  This  time,  however,  we  found  a  real  joy 
and  zest  in  the  work,  and  I  think  both  teacher  and 
pupils  learned  more  geography  in  that  short  period 
than  they  ever  learned  in  the  same  space  of  time 
before  or  since. 

For  the  first  time  the  real  difference  between 
studying  about  things  through  the  medium  of  books, 
and  studying  things  themselves  without  the  medium 
of  books,  was  revealed  to  me.  The  children  in  this 
recess  period  had  gained  more  ideas  in  regard  to  the 
natural  divisions  of  the  earth  than  they  would  have 
gained  in  several  days  by  merely  studying  geog- 
raphy inside  the  school  room.  To  be  sure,  they 
had  not  learned  the  names,  the  locations,  nor  the 


134  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

definitions  of  the  capes,  bays,  and  islands,  but 
they  had  learned  what  was  more  important — to 
think  capes,  islands,  and  peninsulas.  From  that 
time  on  they  found  no  difficulty  and  were  really 
greatly  interested  in  recognizing  the  natural  divi- 
sions of  land  and  water  wherever  they  met  them. 

The  lesson  that  I  learned  thus  early  in  my  experi- 
ence as  a  teacher  I  have  never  forgotten.  In  all 
my  work  at  Tuskegee  Institute  I  have  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  upon  our  teachers  the  importance 
of  training  their  students  to  study,  analyze,  and 
compare  actual  things,  and  to  use  what  they  have 
learned  in  the  school  room  and  in  the  text-book, 
to  enable  them  to  observe,  think  about,  and  deal 
with  the  objects  and  situations  of  actual  life. 

Not  long  ago  I  visited  the  class  room  of  a  new 
teacher  at  Tuskegee,  who  was  conducting  a  class 
in  measurements.  This  teacher  had  insisted  that 
each  member  of  the  class  should  commit  to  memory 
the  tables  of  measurement,  and  when  I  came  in 
they  were  engaged  in  reciting,  singsong,  something 
that  sounded  like  a  sort  of  litany  composed  of  feet, 
yards,  rods,  acres,  gills,  pints,  quarts,  ounces, 
pounds,  and  the  rest.  I  looked  on  at  this  pro- 
ceeding for  a  few  minutes;  then  a  happy  thought 
occurred  to  me  and  I  asked  the  teacher  to  let  me 
take  the  class  in  hand.     I  began  by  asking  if  any 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  135 

one  in  the  class  had  ever  measured  the  class  room 
In  which  they  were  sitting.  There  was  a  dumb 
silence.  Then  I  asked  if  any  one  had  ever  marked 
off  an  acre  of  actual  land,  had  ever  measured  a 
gill  of  water,  or  had  ever  weighed  an  ounce  or  a 
pound  of  sugar.     Not  a  hand  was  raised  in  reply. 

Then  I  told  the  teacher  that  I  would  like  to  take 
charge  of  the  class  for  a  few  days.  Before  the  week 
was  over  I  had  seen  to  it  that  every  member  of  the 
class  had  supplied  himself  with  a  rule  or  a  measure 
of  some  sort.  Under  my  direction  the  students 
measured  the  class  room  and  found  what  it  would 
cost  to  paint  the  walls  of  the  room. 

From  the  class  room  we  went  to  a  part  of  the 
farm  where  the  students  were  engaged  in  planting 
sweet  potatoes.  Soon  we  had  an  acre  of  sweet 
potatoes  measured  off.  We  computed  the  number 
of  bushels  raised  on  that  acre  and  calculated  the 
cost  and  profit  of  raising  them. 

Before  the  week  was  over  the  whole  class  had 
been  through  the  boarding  department,  where  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  weigh  actual  sugar.  From 
the  steward  we  obtained  some  interesting  figures 
as  to  how  much  sugar  was  used  a  day;  then  we 
computed  how  much  was  used  by  each  student. 
We  went  to  the  farm  again  and  weighed  a  live  pig, 
and  I  had  the  class  find  out  the  selling  price  of  pork 


13  6  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

on  that  particular  day,  not  in  Chicago,  but  in 
Alabama.  I  had  them  calculate  the  amount  that 
—  not  an  imaginary  pig  or  a  pig  in  Chicago  — 
the  pig  that  they  had  weighed  would  bring  that 
day  in  the  local  market.  It  took  some  time  to  go 
through  all  these  operations,  but  I  think  that  it 
paid  to  do  so.  Besides,  it  was  fun.  It  was  fun 
for  me,  and  it  was  a  great  deal  more  fun  for  the 
students.  Incidentally  the  teacher  got  an  awaken- 
ing and  learned  a  lesson  that  I  dare  say  he  has  never 
forgotten. 

At  the  present  time  all  teachers  in  the  academic 
studies  are  expected  to  make  a  careful  study  of 
the  work  carried  on  by  the  students  in  the  industries. 
Nearly  every  day,  for  example,  some  class  in  mathe- 
matics, goes  under  the  charge  of  a  teacher,  into 
the  shops  or  the  dairy  or  out  on  the  farm  to  get  its 
problems  in  mathematics  at  first  hand.  Students 
are  sent  from  the  English  classes  to  look  up  the 
history  of  some  trade,  or  some  single  operation 
performed  by  students  in  the  shop,  and  to  write 
out  an  account  of  that  trade  or  that  operation 
for  the  benefit  of  the  other  members  of  the  class. 
In  such  cases  attention  is  paid  not  merely  to  the 
form  in  which  the  report  is  written,  but  more  espec- 
ially to  the  accuracy  and  clearness  of  the  statement. 
The   student  who  prepares  that   kind  of   paper  is 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  137 

writing  something  in  which  other  students  have  a 
practical  interest,  and  if  students  are  not  accurate 
there  are  always  one  or  more  students  in  the  class 
who  know  enough  about  the  subject  to  criticise  and 
correct  the  statements  made.  The  student  in  this 
case  finds  himself  dealing  with  live  matters,  and  he 
naturally  feels  responsibility  for  the  statements 
that  he  makes  —  a  responsibility  that  he  would 
not  feel  if  he  were  merely  putting  together  facts 
that  he  had  gathered  from  some  encyclopaedia  or 
other  second-hand  source  of  information. 

In  emphasizing  the  importance  of  studying  things 
rather  than  books,  I  do  not  mean  to  underrate  the 
importance  of  studying  history,  general  literature, 
or  any  of  the  other  so-called  cultural  studies.  I 
do  think,  however,  that  it  is  important  that  young 
men  and  young  women  should  first  of  all  get  clear 
and  definite  ideas  of  things  right  about  them, 
because  these  are  the  ideas  by  which  they  are  going 
to  measure  and  interpret  things  farther  removed 
from  their  practical  interests.  To  young,  inex- 
perienced minds  there  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  fatal 
charm  about  the  vague,  the  distant,  and  the 
mysterious. 

In  the  early  days  of  freedom,  when  education 
was  a  new  thing,  the  boy  who  went  away  to  school 
had  a  very  natural  human  ambition  to  be  able  to 


138  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

come  back  home  in  order  to  delight  and  astonish 
the  old  folks  with  the  new  and  strange  things  that 
he  had  learned.  If  he  could  speak  a  few  words  in 
some  strange  tongue  that  his  parents  had  never 
heard  before,  or  read  a  few  sentences  out  of  a  book 
with  strange  and  mysterious  characters,  he  was 
able  to  make  them  very  proud  and  happy.  There 
was  a  constant  temptation  therefore  for  schools 
and  teachers  to  keep  everything  connected  with 
education  in  a  sort  of  twilight  realm  of  the  mys- 
terious and  supernatural.  Quite  unconsciously  they 
created  in  the  minds  of  their  pupils  the  impres- 
sion that  a  boy  or  a  girl  who  had  passed  through 
certain  educational  forms  and  ceremonies  had  been 
initiated  into  some  sort  of  secret  knowledge  that 
was  inaccessible  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  Con- 
nected with  this  was  the  notion  that  because  a 
man  had  passed  through  these  educational  forms 
and  ceremonies  he  had  somehow  become  a  sort  of 
superior  being  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world  — 
a  member  of  the  "Talented  Tenth"  or  some  other 
ill-defined  and  exclusive  caste. 

Nothing,  in  my  opinion,  could  be  more  fatal 
to  the  success  of  a  student  or  to  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion than  the  general  acceptance  of  any  such  ideas. 
In  the  long  run  it  will  be  found  that  neither  black 
people  nor  white  people  want  such  an  education 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  139 

for  their  children,  and  they  will  not  support  schools 
that  give  it. 

My  experience  has  taught  me  that  the  surest  way 
to  success  in  education,  and  in  any  other  line  for 
that  matter,  is  to  stick  close  to  the  common  and 
familiar  things  —  things  that  concern  the  greater 
part  of  the  people  the  greater  part  of  the  time. 

I  want  to  see  education  as  common  as  grass,  and 
as  free  for  all  as  sunshine  and  rain. 

The  way  to  open  opportunities  of  education  for 
every  one,  however,  is  to  teach  things  that 
every  one  needs  to  know.  I  venture  to  say  that 
anything  in  any  school,  taught  with  the  object 
of  fitting  students  to  produce  and  serve  food,  for 
example,  will  win  approval  and  popularity  for  the 
school.  The  reason  is  simple:  every  human  being 
is  interested,  several  times  a  day,  in  the  subject  of 
food;  and  a  large  part  of  the  world  is  interested, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  its  production 
and  sale. 

Not  long  ago  I  attended  the  closing  exercises 
of  a  high  school  in  a  community  composed  mainly 
of  people  in  the  humble  walks  of  life.  The  general 
theme  of  the  graduating  addresses  was  "An  Imagi- 
nary Trip  to  Europe."  Of  course  the  audience  was 
bored,  and  I  was  not  surprised  that  a  number  of 
people  went  to  sleep.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  do 


i4o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

not  think  that  the  parents  of  a  single  student  who 
delivered  one  of  these  addresses  had  ever  been  to 
Europe  or  will  have  an  opportunity  to  go  at  any- 
time in  the  near  future.  The  thing  did  not  touch 
a  common  chord.  It  was  too  far  removed  from  all 
the  practical,  human  interests  of  which  they  had  any 
experience.  The  average  family  in  America  is 
not  ordinarily  engaged  in  travelling  through  Europe 
for  any  large  part  of  the  time.  Besides  that,  none 
of  the  members  of  this  graduating  class  had  ever 
been  to  Europe;  consequently  they  were  not  writing 
about  something  of  which  they  had  any  real 
knowledge. 

Some  years  ago,  in  an  effort  to  bring  our  rhetorical 
and  commencement  exercises  into  a  little  closer 
touch  with  real  things,  we  tried  the  experiment  at 
Tuskegee  of  having  students  write  papers  on  some 
subject  of  which  they  had  first-hand  knowledge. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  believe  that  Tuskegee  was  the 
first  institution  that  attempted  to  reform  its  com- 
mencement exercises  in  this  particular  direction. 

Ordinarily,  at  the  closing  exercises  of  a  high 
school,  graduates  are  expected  to  stand  up  on  the 
platform  and,  out  of  all  their  inexperience,  instruct 
their  elders  how  to  succeed  in  life.  We  were  for- 
tunate at  Tuskegee,  in  the  thirty-seven  industries 
carried  on  there  and  in  the  thousand  acres  of  land 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  141 

that  are  cultivated,  to  be  able  to  give  our  students, 
in  addition  to  their  general  education,  a  pretty  good 
knowledge  of  some  one  of  the  familiar  trades  or 
vocations.  They  have,  therefore,  something  to  talk 
about  in  their  essays  in  which  all  of  the  audience 
are  interested  and  with  which  all  are  more  or  less 
familiar. 

Instead  of  having  a  boy  or  girl  read  a  paper  on 
some  subject  like  "Beyond  the  Alps  Lies  Italy," 
we  have  them  explain  and  demonstrate  to  the 
audience  how  to  build  a  roof,  or  the  proper  way  to 
make  cheese,  or  how  to  hatch  chickens  with  an  incu- 
bator. Perhaps  one  of  the  graduates  in  the  nurses' 
training  school  will  show  how  to  lend  "first  aid  to 
the  injured."  If  a  girl  is  taking  the  course  in 
dairying,  she  will  not  only  describe  what  she  has 
learned  but  will  go  through,  on  the  platform,  the 
various  methods  of  operating  a  modern  dairy. 

Instead  of  letting  a  boy  tell  why  one  ought  to  do 
right,  we  ask  him  to  tell  what  he  has  learned  about 
the  feeding  of  pigs,  about  their  diseases,  and  the 
care  of  them  when  they  are  sick.  In  such  a  case 
the  student  will  have  the  pig  on  the  platform, 
in  order  to  illustrate  the  methods  of  caring  for  it, 
and  demonstrate  to  the  audience  the  points  that 
he  is  trying  to  make. 

One  of  our  students,  in  his  commencement  ora- 


142  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

tion  last  May,  gave  a  description  of  how  he  planted 
and  raised  an  acre  of  cabbages.  Piled  high  upon  the 
platform  by  his  side  were  some  of  the  largest  and 
finest  cabbages  that  I  have  ever  seen.  He  told 
how  and  where  he  had  obtained  the  seed;  he  de- 
scribed his  method  of  preparing  and  enriching  the 
soil,  of  working  the  land,  and  harvesting  the  crop; 
and  he  summed  up  by  giving  the  cost  of  the  whole 
operation.  In  the  course  of  his  account  of  this 
comparatively  simple  operation,  this  student  had 
made  use  of  much  that  he  had  learned  in  composi- 
tion, grammar,  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  agricul- 
ture. He  had  not  merely  woven  into  his  narrative 
all  these  various  elements  that  I  have  referred  to, 
but  he  had  given  the  audience  (which  was  made  up 
largely  of  coloured  farmers  from  the  surrounding 
country)  some  useful  and  practical  information  in 
regard  to  a  subject  which  they  understood  and  were 
interested  in.  I  wish  that  any  one  who  does  not 
believe  it  possible  to  make  a  subject  like  cabbages 
interesting  in  a  commencement  oration  could  have 
heard  the  hearty  cheers  which  greeted  the  speaker 
when,  at  the  close  of  his  speech,  he  held  up  one  of 
the  largest  cabbages  on  the  platform  for  the  audience 
to  look  at  and  admire.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
is  just  as  much  that  is  interesting,  strange,  mys- 
terious, and  wonderful;  just  as  much  to  be  learned 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  143 

that  is  edifying,  broadening,  and  refining  in  a 
cabbage  as  there  is  in  a  page  of  Latin.  There  is, 
however,  this  distinction:  it  will  make  very  little 
difference  to  the  world  whether  one  Negro  boy,  more 
or  less,  learns  to  construe  a  page  of  Latin.  On  the 
other  hand,  as  soon  as  one  Negro  boy  has  been 
taught  to  apply  thought  and  study  and  ideas  to 
the  growing  of  cabbages,  he  has  started  a  process 
which,  if  it  goes  on  and  continues,  will  eventually 
transform  the  whole  face  of  things  as  they  exist 
in  the  South  to-day. 

I  have  spoken  hitherto  about  industrial  educa- 
tion as  a  means  of  connecting  education  with  life. 
The  mere  fact  that  a  boy  has  learned  in  school  to 
handle  a  plane  or  that  he  has  learned  something 
about  the  chemistry  of  the  soil  does  not  of  itself 
insure  that  he  has  gained  any  new  and  vital  grip 
upon  the  life  about  him.  He  must  at  the  same  time 
learn  to  use  the  knowledge  and  the  training  that 
he  has  received  to  change  and  improve  the  condi- 
tions about  him. 

In  my  travels  I  have  come  across  some  very 
interesting  and  amusing  examples  of  the  failures  of 
teachers  to  connect  their  teaching  with  real  things, 
even  when  they  had  a  chance  right  at  hand  to  do 
so.  I  recall  visiting,  not  long  since,  a  somewhat 
noted  school  which  has  a  department  for  industrial 


i44  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

or  hand  training,  concerning  which  the  officers 
of  the  school  had  talked  a  great  deal.  Almost 
directly  in  front  of  the  building  used  for  the  so-called 
industrial  training — I  noticed  a  large  brick  building 
in  process  of  erection.  In  the  construction  of  this 
building  every  principle  of  mechanics  taught  in 
the  manual-training  department  of  this  institution 
was  being  put  into  actual  use.  Notwithstanding 
this  fact,  I  learned  upon  inquiry  that  the  teacher 
had  made  no  attempt  to  connect  what  was  taught 
in  the  manual-training  department  with  the  work 
on  the  brick  building  across  the  way.  The  students 
had  no  opportunity  to  work  on  this  building;  they 
had  not  visited  it  with  their  teacher;  they  had  made 
no  attempt  to  study  the  actual  problems  that  had 
arisen  in  the  course  of  its  construction.  As  far 
as  they  were  concerned,  there  was  no  relation 
whatever  between  the  subjects  discussed  in  the 
class  room  or  the  operations  carried  on  in  the  school 
shopc  and  the  work  that  was  going  on  outside. 
All  that  they  were  getting  in  the  school  was,  as  far 
as  I  was  able  to  learn,  just  as  formal  in  its  charac- 
ter, just  as  much  an  educational  ceremony,  as  if 
they  were  engaged  in  diagraming  a  sentence  in 
English  or  reciting  the  parts  of  a  Latin  verb. 

My  experience  in  the  little  country  school  in  West 
Virginia  first  taught  me  that  it  was  possible  to  take 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  145 

teaching  outside  of  the  text-book  and  deal  with 
real  things.  I  have  learned  from  later  experience 
that  it  is  just  as  important  to  carry  education 
outside  of  the  school  building  and  take  it  into  the 
fields,  into  the  homes,  and  into  the  daily  life  of  the 
people  surrounding  the  school. 

One  of  the  most  important  activities  of  our  school 
at  Tuskegee  is  what  we  call  our  Extension  Work, 
in  which  nearly  all  the  departments  of  the  Institute 
cooperate.  In  fact,  at  the  present  time  more  atten- 
tion, energy,  and  effort  are  directed  to  this  work 
outside  the  school  grounds  than  to  any  other  branch 
of  work  in  which  the  school  is  engaged. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  here  all  the 
ramifications  or  all  the  various  forms  which  this 
extension  work  has  taken  in  recent  years.  The 
thing  that  I  wish  to  emphasize,  however,  is  that  we 
are  seeking  in  this  work  less  to  teach  (according  to 
the  old-fashioned  notion  of  teaching)  than  to  im- 
prove conditions.  We  are  trying  to  improve  the 
methods  of  farming  in  the  country  surrounding  the 
school,  to  change  and  improve  the  home  life  of  the 
farming  population,  and  to  establish  a  model 
school  system  —  not  only  for  Macon  but  for  several 
other  counties  in  the  state. 

Perhaps  I  can  best  illustrate  what  I  mean  when  I 
Gay  that  education  should  connect  itself  with  life, 


146  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

by  describing  a  type  of  rural  school  which  we  have 
worked  out  and  are  seeking  to  establish  in  Macon 
County.  There  are  several  schools  in  our  county 
which  might  be  called,  in  a  certain  sense,  model 
country  schools.  There  are  nearly  fifty  communi- 
ties in  which,  during  the  last  four  or  five  years,  new 
school  buildings  have  been  erected  and  the  school 
terms  lengthened  to  eight  and  nine  months,  largely 
with  funds  collected  from  the  Negro  farmers 
under  the  direction  and  inspiration  of  the  Tuskegee 
Institute. 

The  school  that  I  have  in  mind  is  known  as  the 
"Rising  Star."  That  is  the  name  that  the  coloured 
people  gave  to  their  church,  and  that  is  now  the 
name  which  has  become  attached  to  the  little  farm- 
ing community  surrounding  it.  The  "Rising  Star" 
community  is  composed  of  some  score  or  more  of 
hard-working,  thrifty,  successful  Negro  farmers, 
the  larger  number  of  whom  own  their  land. 
There  is  no  wealth  in  this  community;  neither  is 
there  much,  if  any,  actual  want.  When  I  first 
made  the  acquaintance  of  "Rising  Star,"  soon  after 
beginning  my  work  in  Alabama,  the  church  which 
gave  the  neighbourhood  its  name  was  an  old, 
dilapidated  building,  located  in  a  wornout  field. 
It  was  about  the  worst  looking  building  that  I  had 
ever  seen,  up  to  that  time,  in  which  to  carry  on  the 


THE  "RISING  STAR"  SCHOOLHOUSE 
With  which  the  community  was  once  satisfied 


THE  "RISING  STAR"  SCHOOLHOUSE 

That  the  changed  conditions   have   produced 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  147 

work  of  saving  men's  souls.  The  condition  of  the 
farmhouses,  the  farms,  and  the  school  was  in  keeping 
with  the  condition  of  the  church.  This  was  true 
also  of  the  minister.  He  was  run  down  and  dilapi- 
dated. I  used  frequently  to  go  Sunday  afternoons 
to  hear  him  preach.  His  sermons  usually  held  on 
for  about  an  hour  and  a  half.  I  remember  that 
I  used  to  study  them  carefully  from  week  to  week 
in  the  hope  that  I  might  hear  him.  utter,  at  some 
time  or  other,  a  single  sentence  that  seemed  to  me 
to  have  any  practical  value  to  any  man,  woman,  or 
child  in  his  congregation.  I  was  always  disap- 
pointed, however.  Almost  without  exception,  his  ser- 
mons related  to  something  that  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  place  two  or  three  thousand  years  ago,  or 
else  they  were  made  up  of  a  vivid  discription  of 
the  horrors  of  hell  and  of  the  glories  of  heaven. 

Nor  far  from  the  church,  in  another  old  field, 
there  was  a  little  broken-down,  unsightly  building 
which  had  never  been  touched  by  paint  or  white- 
wash. This  was  the  school.  The  teacher  went 
with  the  minister.  He  had  about  fifty  or  sixty 
children  in  his  school,  but  the  things  that  he  taught 
them  had  no  more  relation  to  the  life  of  that  com- 
munity than  the  preacher's  seniions  had.  The 
weakness  and  poverty  of  this  little  Negro  settlement 
gave  me,  however,  the  chance  tl  it  I  wanted.     I 


i48  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

determined  to  try  there  the  experiment  of  building 
up  a  model  school,  one  that  should  actually  seek 
to  articulate  school  life  into  every-day  life.  I 
cannot  give  here  a  detailed  history  of  this  experiment, 
but  I  will  briefly  describe  conditions  as  they  exist 
to-day. 

In  place  of  the  old  building  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, there  is  now  a  comfortable  five-room  house, 
resembling  in  style  and  general  appearance  the 
cottages  of  the  more  prosperous  farmers  of  the 
neighbourhood.  In  this  building,  surrounded  by 
its  garden,  with  its  stable  and  outbuildings  ad- 
joining, the  teachers  (a  man  and  his  wife)  live  and 
teach  school.  All  of  the  rooms,  as  well  as  the  gar- 
den and  the  stable,  are  used  at  different  times  in 
the  day  for  teaching  pupils  the  ordinary  household 
duties  of  a  farmer  and  his  wife  in  that  part  of  the 
country.  Here  the  children  learn  to  make  the  beds 
and  to  clean,  dust,  and  arrange  the  sitting  room. 
At  noon  they  go  into  the  kitchen,  where  they  are 
taught  to  cook,  and  into  the  dining  room,  where 
they  are  taught  to  lay  the  table  and  serve  a  farmer's 
meal.  The  flowers  in  the  front  yard  are  cared  for 
by  the  children  of  the  school.  The  vegetables  in 
the  garden  are  -.hose  which  have  been  found  best 
adapted  to  the  sail  and  the  needs  of  the  community, 
and  all  are  pla.  ted  and  cared  for  by  the  teachers 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  149 

and  students.  There  is  a  cow  in  the  barn,  and  near 
by  are  pigs  and  poultry.  The  children  are  taught 
how  to  keep  the  cow  house,  the  pig  sty,  and  the 
poultry"  house  clean  and  attractive. 

The  usual  academic  studies  of  a  public  school 
are  taught  in  the  sitting  room.  There  is,  however, 
this  difference:  the  lessons  in  arithmetic  consist 
for  the  most  part  of  problems  that  have  to  do  with 
the  work  that  is  going  on  at  the  time  in  the  house, 
the  garden,  or  on  the  farms  in  the  surrounding  com- 
munity. As  far  as  possible,  all  the  English  composi- 
tion work  is  based  on  matters  connected  with  the 
daily  life  of  the  community.  In  addition  to  the 
ordinary  reading  book,  pupils  in  this  school  spend 
some  time  every  week  reading  a  little  local  agricul- 
tural newspaper  which  is  published  at  Tuskegee 
Institute  in  the  interest  of  the  farmers  and  schools 
in  the  surrounding  country. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  the  effect  of  this  teach- 
ing on  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  children  who 
attend  this  school.  As  soon  as  fathers  discovered 
that  their  boys  were  learning  in  school  to  tell  how 
much  their  pigs,  cotton,  and  corn  were  worth,  the 
fathers  (who  had  been  more  or  less  disappointed 
with  the  results  of  the  previous  education)  felt  that 
the  school  was  really  worth  son  ething  after  all. 
When  the  girls  began  to  ask  thei  *  mothers  to  let 


ISO  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

them  take  their  dresses  to  school  so  that  they  might 
learn  to  patch  and  mend  them,  these  mothers  began 
to  get  an  entirely  new  idea  of  what  school  meant. 
Later,  when  these  girls  were  taught  to  make  simple 
garments  in  the  school  room,  their  mothers  became 
still  more  interested.  They  began  to  attend  the 
mothers'  meetings,  and  before  long  there  was  a 
genuine  enthusiasm  in  that  community  —  not  only 
for  the  school  and  its  teachers,  but  for  the  house- 
hold improvement  that  they  taught.  The  teachers 
used  their  influence  with  the  pupils  first  of  all  to  start 
a  crusade  of  whitewashing  and  general  cleaning-up. 
Houses  that  had  never  known  a  coat  of  whitewash 
began  to  assume  a  neat  and  attractive  appearance. 
Better  than  all  else,  under  the  inspiration  of  this 
school  and  of  the  other  schools  like  it,  the  whole 
spirit  of  this  community  and  the  others  throughout 
the  county  improved. 

In  a  short  time  a  little  revolution  has  taken  place 
in  the  material,  educational,  moral,  and  religious 
life  of  "Rising  Star."  The  influence  of  the  school 
has  extended  to  the  minister  and  to  the  church. 
At  the  present  time  the  sermons  that  are  preached 
in  the  church  have  a  vital  connection  with  the  moral 
life  of  the  community.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  one 
of  my  recent  vis  ts  to  the  church.  The  minister 
chose  for  his  text .'  "The  earth  is  full  of  Thy  riches," 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  151 

and,  to  illustrate  his  sermon,  he  placed  on  the  plat- 
form beside  the  pulpit  two  bushels  of  prize  corn 
which  he  himself  had  grown  on  his  farm.  When 
he  came  to  expound  his  text  he  pointed  with  pride 
to  his  little  agricultural  exhibit  as  an  indication 
of  the  real  significance  of  this  sentence  from  the 
Bible,  which  had  never  before  had  any  definite 
meaning  for  him. 

Education,  such  as  I  have  attempted  to  de- 
scribe, touches  the  life  of  the  white  man  as  well 
as  that  of  the  black  man.  By  encouraging  Negro 
farmers  to  buy  land  and  improve  their  methods 
of  agriculture,  it  has  multiplied  the  number  of  small 
landowners  and  increased  the  tax  value  of  the  land. 
Recent  investigations  show  that  the  number  of 
Negro  landowners  in  Macon  County  has  grown  more 
in  the  last  five  or  six  years  than  in  the  whole  previous 
period  since  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Land  that 
was  selling  for  two  and  three  dollars  an  acre  five 
years  ago  is  now  worth  fifteen  and  twenty  dollars 
an  acre.  In  many  parts  of  the  county  large  plan- 
tations have  been  broken  up  and  sold  in  small 
tracts  to  Negro  farmers.  At  the  last  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Coloured  State  Teachers'  Association, 
at  Birmingham,  one  teacher  from  Macon  County 
reported  that  during  the  previous  'year  she  had  or- 
ganized a  club  among  the  farmers  through  which 


iS2  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

six  hundred  acres  of  land  had  been  purchased  in 
her  community. 

The  struggles  of  the  Negro  farmer  to  lengthen 
the  school  term,  and  the  competition  among  dif- 
ferent local  communities  in  the  county  in  the  work 
of  building  and  equipping  school  buildings,  has  had 
the  effect  of  leading  the  coloured  people  to  think 
about  all  kinds  of  matters  that  concern  the  welfare 
of  their  local  communities.  For  example,  Law  and 
Order  Leagues  have  been  organized  throughout 
Macon  County  to  assist  in  enforcing  the  prohibition 
law.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  county  in 
the  state  where  these  laws  are  better  enforced  than 
they  are  in  our  county  at  the  present  time.  At 
the  last  sitting  of  the  grand  jury,  only  seventeen 
indictments  for  all  classes  of  offences  were  returned. 
The  next  session  of  the  criminal  court  will  have,  I 
am  told,  the  smallest  docket  in  its  history.  I  am 
convinced  that  there  is  not  a  county  in  that  state 
with  so  large  a  Negro  population  that  has  so  small 
a   nijmber  of   criminals. 

Silently  and  almost  imperceptibly,  the  work  of 
education  has  gone  on  from  year  to  year,  slowly 
changing  conditions  —  not  only  in  Macon  County, 
but,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  other  parts  of 
Alabama  and  of  the  South.  Education  of  the  kind 
that  I  have  described  has  helped  to  diminish  the 


TWO  TYPES  OF   COLOURED  CHURCHES 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  153 

cost  of  production  on  the  farm  and,  at  the  same  time, 
has  steadily  increased  the  wants  of  the  farmers. 
In  other  words,  it  has  enabled  the  Negro  farmer  to 
earn  more  money,  and  at  the  same  time  has  given 
him  a  reason  for  doing  so. 

Farmers  have  learned  to  plant  gardens,  to  keep 
hogs  and  chickens,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  raise 
their  own  food  and  fodder.  This  has  led  them  to 
increase  and  sometimes  double  the  annual  amount 
of  their  labour.  Under  former  conditions,  the 
Negro  farmer  did  not  work  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  days  in  the  year.  Merely  to  plant  and 
harvest  the  cotton  crop  —  he  did  not  need  to  do  so. 

In  learning  to  raise  his  own  provisions,  the  Negro 
farmer  is  no  longer  dependent  to  the  same  extent 
that  he  formerly  was  upon  the  landlord  or  the 
storekeeper.  Under  the  old  system  the  Negro 
farmer  obtained  his  provisions  (or  "advances" 
as  they  are  called)  from  the  storekeeper  on  credit. 
In  order  to  carry  him  through  the  year  until  the 
cotton  crop  was  harvested,  the  storekeeper  borrowed 
from  the  local  banker.  The  local  banker  borrowed, 
in  turn,  from  the  bankers  in  the  city,  who,  perhaps, 
obtained  a  portion  of  their  money  from  the  large 
money  centres  of  the  North.  Every  time  this 
money  passed  from  one  hand  to  the  other,  the  man 
who  loaned  collected  toll  from  the  man  who  bor- 


154  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

rowed.  At  the  bottom,  where  the  system  connected 
up  with  the  Negro  farmer,  the  planter  or  storekeeper 
added  something  to  the  costs  which  had  already 
accumulated  —  as  a  sort  of  insurance,  and  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  looking  after  his  tenant  and  seeing 
that  he  did  his  work  properly.  All  this  sum,  of 
course,  was  finally  paid  by  the  man  on  the  soil. 

The  farmer  who  has  become  independent  enough 
to  raise  his  own  provisions,  or  a  large  portion  of 
them,  does  not  need  the  supervision  of  his  landlord 
in  his  farming  operations.  At  the  present  time 
the  majority  of  the  Negro  farmers  in  Macon  County 
get  their  money  directly  from  the  bank  and  pay 
cash  for  their  provisions.  A  number  have  money 
on  deposit  in  the  local  banks.  The  bankers' 
capital  and  deposits  have  increased  so  that  they 
are  not  so  dependent  as  they  once  were  upon  for- 
eign capital  to  aid  them  in  carrying  on  the  farming 
operations  in  the  county. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  all  this  has  been  effected 
as  a  direct  result  of  education;  I  merely  wish  to 
point  out  how  intimately  the  kind  of  education 
that  we  are  trying  to  introduce  does,  in  fact,  touch 
all  the  fundamental  interests  of  the  community. 

Naturally  the  influences  that  I  have  referred  to 
do  not  end  with  the  effects  that  I  have  already 
described.     The  results  obtained  have  had  a  reflex 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  155 

influence  upon  the  schools  themselves.  From  the 
very  beginning  of  my  work  at  Tuskegee  I  saw  that 
our  problem  was  a  double  one.  We  had  at  first 
to  work  out  a  kind  of  education  which  would  meet 
the  needs  of  the  masses  of  the  coloured  people. 
We  had,  in  the  second  place,  to  convince  the  white 
people  that  education  could  be  made  of  real  value 
to  the  Negro. 

There  are  many  sincere  and  honest  men  in  the 
South  to-day  who  do  not  believe  that  education 
has  done  or  will  do  the  race  any  good.  In  my 
opinion,  Negro  education  will  never  be  an  entire 
success  in  the  South  until  it  gets  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  these  men.  Arguments  will  not  go  far 
toward  convincing  men  like  these.  It  is  necessary 
to  show  them  results. 

The  people  in  Macon  County  are  not  exceptional 
in  this  respect.  Until  a  few  years  ago  I  think  that 
I  should  have  described  the  attitude  of  a  majority 
of  the  white  people  in  that  county  as  indifferent. 
To-day  I  believe  that  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  nine 
tenths  of  the  people  of  Macon  County  believe  in 
Negro  education. 

Let  me  speak  of  some  of  the  ways  in  which  this 
attitude  of  the  white  people  has  manifested  itself. 
In  the  first  place,  when  a  school  house  is  to  be 
built  or  some  improvements   to   be   made   in   the 


156  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

community  where  the  white  man  lives,  he  contrib- 
utes money  toward  it.  One  white  man  in  Macon 
County  recently  gave  #100  toward  the  erection  of 
such  a  school.  A  number  of  white  planters,  who 
a  few  years  ago  were  indifferent  on  the  subject 
of  Negro  education,  give  annual  prizes  to  the 
coloured  people  on  their  plantations.  I  know  one 
planter  who  gives  an  annual  prize  to  the  Negro 
farmer  who  raises  the  largest  number  of  bushels 
of  corn  on  an  acre  of  land.  He  gives  another  prize 
to  the  coloured  family  which  keeps  its  children  in 
the  public  school  the  greatest  number  of  days 
during  the  year.  He  gives  another  prize  to  the 
woman  who  keeps  her  front  yard  in  the  best 
condition. 

One  of  the  white  bankers  in  Macon  County  has 
established  an  annual  prize  to  be  given  to  the  Negro 
farmer  who  raises  the  best  oats  on  a  given  plot  of 
land.  The  editor  of  the  county  paper  gives  an 
annual  prize  to  the  school  in  the  county  that  has 
the  best  spelling  class,  the  contest  to  take  place 
at  the  annual  Macon  County  Coloured  Farmers' 
Fair.  At  these  fairs  exhibitions  are  made  of 
vegetables  and  grain  raised  by  the  children  on  the 
school  farms.  There  are  also  exhibitions  of  cooking 
and  sewing  done  by  the  children  in  the  public  schools 
of  the  county.     Many  of  the  white  merchants  and 


ORATION  ON  CABBAGES  157 

white  farmers  offer  prizes  for  the  best  exhibition  of 
agricultural  products  at  this  fair. 

Gradually,  as  I  have  said,  improved  methods  of 
educating  the  Negro  are  extending  the  same  influ- 
ences throughout  the  state  of  Alabama  and  the 
South.  In  fact,  wherever  a  school  is  actually  teach- 
ing boys  and  girls  to  do  something  that  the  commu- 
nity wants,  it  is  seldom  that  that  school  fails  to  enlist 
the  interest  and  cooperation  of  all  the  people  in 
that  community,  whether  they  be  black  or  white. 
This  is,  as  definitely  as  I  can  express  it,  my  own 
experience  of  the  way  in  which  educators  can  and 
do  solve  the  race  problem. 


CHAPTER  VII 

COLONEL    ROOSEVELT    AND    WHAT    I     HAVE    LEARNED 
FROM    HIM 

SOME  years  ago  —  and  not  so  very  many, 
either  —  I  think  that  I  should  have  been 
perfectly  safe  in  saying  that  the  highest 
ambition  of  the  average  Negro  in  America  was  to 
hold  some  sort  of  office,  or  to  have  some  sort  of 
job  that  connected  him  with  the  Government. 
Just  to  be  able  to  live  in  the  capital  city  was  a  sort 
of  distinction,  and  the  man  who  ran  an  elevator 
or  merely  washed  windows  in  Washington  (particu- 
larly if  the  windows  or  the  elevator  belonged  to  the 
United  States  Government)  felt  that  he  was  in 
some  way  superior  to  a  man  who  cleaned  windows 
or  ran  an  elevator  in  any  other  part  of  the  country. 
He  felt  that  he  was  an  office-holder! 

There  has  been  a  great  change  in  this  respect  in 
recent  years.  Many  members  of  my  race  have 
learned  that,  in  the  long  run,  they  can  earn  more 
money  and  be  of  more  service  to  the   community 

158 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       159 

in  almost  any  other  position  than  that  of  an  em- 
ploy6  or  office-holder  under  the  Government.  I 
know  of  a  number  of  recent  cases  in  which  Negro 
business  men  have  refused  positions  of  honour  and 
trust  in  the  Government  service  because  they  did 
not  care  to  give  up  their  business  interests.  Not- 
withstanding, the  city  of  Washington  still  has  a 
peculiar  attraction  and  even  fascination  for  the 
average   Negro. 

I  do  not  think  that  I  ever  shared  that  feeling  of 
so  many  others  of  my  race.  I  never  liked  the  atmos- 
phere of  Washington.  I  early  saw  that  it  was 
impossible  to  build  up  a  race  of  which  the  leaders 
were  spending  most  of  their  time,  thought,  and 
energy  in  trying  to  get  into  office,  or  in  trying  to 
stay  there  after  they  were  in.  So,  for  the  greater 
part  of  my  life,  I  have  avoided  Washington;  and 
even  now  I  rarely  spend  a  day  in  that  city  which 
I  do  not  look  upon  as  a  day  practically  thrown 
away. 

I  do  not  like  politics,  and  yet,  in  recent  years,  I 
have  had  some  experience  in  political  matters. 
However,  no  man  who  is  in  the  least  interested  in 
public  questions  can  escape  some  sort  of  connection 
with  politics,  I  suppose,  even  if  he  does  not  want  a 
political  position.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  just 
because  it  was  well  known  that  I  sought  no  political 


160  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

office  of  any  kind  and  would  accept  no  position  with 
the  Government,  unless  it  were  an  honorary  one, 
that  brought  my  connection  with  politics  about. 

One  thing  that  has  taught  me  to  dislike  politics 
is  the  observation  that,  as  soon  as  any  person  or 
thing  becomes  the  subject  of  political  discussion, 
he  or  it  at  once  assumes  in  the  public  mind  an  im- 
portance out  of  all  proportion  to  his  or  its  real  merits. 
Time  and  time  again  I  have  seen  a  whole  community 
(sometimes  a  whole  county  or  state)  wrought  up 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement  over  the  appoint- 
ment of  some  person  to  a  political  position  paying 
perhaps  not  more  than  #25  or  #50  a  month.  At 
the  same  time  I  have  seen  individuals  secure  im- 
portant positions  at  the  head  of  a  manufacturing 
house  or  receive  an  appointment  to  some  important 
educational  position  that  paid  three  or  four  times 
as  much  money(or  perhaps  purchase  a  farm),  where 
just  as  much  executive  ability  was  required,  with- 
out arousing  public  attention  or  causing  comment 
•  in  the  newspapers.  I  have  also  seen  white  men  and 
coloured  men  resign  important  positions  in  private 
life  where  they  were  earning  much  more  than  they 
could  get  under  the  Government,  simply  because 
of  the  false  and  mistaken  ideas  of  the  importance 
which  they  attached  to  a  political  position.  All 
this  has  given  me  a  distaste  for  political  life. 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       161 

In  Mississippi,  for  example,  a  coloured  man  and 
his  wife  had  charge,  a  few  years  ago,  of  a  post-office. 
In  some  way  or  other  a  great  discussion  was  started 
in  regard  to  this  case,  and  before  long  the  whole 
community  was  in  a  state  of  excitement  because 
coloured  people  held  that  position.  A  little  later 
the  post-office  was  given  up  and  the  coloured  man, 
Mr.  W.  W.  Cox,  started  a  bank  in  the  same  town. 
At  the  present  time  he  is  the  president  of  the  bank 
and  his  wife  assists  him.  As  bankers  they  receive 
three  or  four  times  as  much  pay  as  they  received 
from  the  post-office.  The  bank  is  patronized  by 
both  white  and  coloured  people,  and,  when  last  I 
heard  of  it,  was  in  a  flourishing  condition.  As 
president  of  a  Negro  bank,  Mr.  Cox  is  performing 
a  much  greater  service  to  the  community  than  he 
could  possibly  render  as  postmaster.  There  are, 
no  doubt,  a  great  many  people  in  his  town  who 
would  be  able  to  fill  the  position  of  postmaster,  but 
there  are  very  few  who  could  start  and  successfully 
carry  on  an  institution  that  would  so  benefit  the 
community  as  a  Negro  bank.  While  he  was  post- 
master, merely  because  his  office  was  a  political 
one,  Mr.  Cox  occupied  for  some  time  the  attention 
of  the  whole  state  of  Mississippi;  in  fact,  he  (or 
rather  his  wife)  was  for  a  brief  space  almost  a  na- 
tional figure.     Now  he  is  occupying  a  much  more 


i6a  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

remunerative  and  important  position  in  private 
life,  but  I  do  not  think  that  he  has  attracted 
attention  to  amount  to  anything  outside  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives. 

The  effect  of  the  excitement  about  this  case  has 
been  greatly  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  hold- 
ing a  Government  position.  The  average  Negro 
naturally  feels  that  there  must  be  some  special 
value  to  him  as  an  individual,  as  well  as  to  his  race, 
in  holding  a  position  which  white  people  don't 
want  him  to  hold,  simply  because  he  is  a  Negro. 
It  leads  him  to  believe  that  it  is  in  some  way  more 
honourable  or  respectable  to  work  for  the  Govern- 
ment as  an  official  than  for  the  community  and  him- 
self as  a  private  citizen. 

Because  of  these  facts,  as  well  as  for  other  reasons, 
I  have  never  sought  nor  accepted  a  political  position. 
During  President  Roosevelt's  administration  I  was 
asked  to  go  as  a  Commissioner  of  the  United  Sates 
to  Liberia.  In  considering  whether  I  should  accept 
this  position,  it  was  urged  that,  because  of  the  work 
that  I  had  already  done  in  this  country  for  my  own 
people  and  because  my  name  was  already  known  to 
some  extent  to  the  people  of  Liberia,  I  was  the  person 
best  fitted  to  undertake  the  work  that  the  Govern- 
ment wanted  done.  While  I  did  not  like  the  job 
and  could  ill  spare  the  time  from  the  work  which  I 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       163 

was  trying  to  do  for  the  people  of  my  own  race  in 
America,  I  finally  decided  to  accept  the  position. 
I  was  very  happy,  however,  when  President  Taft 
kindly  decided  to  relieve  me  from  the  necessity  of 
making  the  trip  and  allowed  my  secretary,  Mr. 
Emmett  J.  Scott,  to  go  to  Africa  in  my  stead. 
This  was  as  near  as  I  ever  came  to  holding  a  Govern- 
ment job.  But  there  are  other  ways  of  getting 
into  politics   than   by  holding  office. 

In  the  case  of  the  average  man,  it  has  seemed 
to  me  that  as  soon  as  he  gets  into  office  he  becomes 
an  entirely  different  man.  Some  men  change  for 
the  better  under  the  weight  of  responsibility;  others 
change  for  the  worse.  I  never  could  understand 
what  there  is  in  American  politics  that  so  fatally 
alters  the  character  of  a  man.  I  have  known  men 
who,  in  their  private  life  and  in  their  business,  were 
scrupulously  careful  to  keep  their  word  —  men 
who  would  never,  directly  or  indirectly,  deceive 
any  one  with  whom  they  were  associated.  When 
they  took  political  office  all  this  changed. 

I  once  asked  a  coloured  hack-driver  in  Washing- 
ton how  a  certain  coloured  man  whom  I  had  known 
in  private  life  (but  who  was  holding  a  prominent 
office)  was  getting  on.  The  old  driver  had  little 
education  but  he  was  a  judge  of  men,  and  he 
summed  up  the  case  in  this  way: 


i64  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

"Dere   is   one   thing   about   Mr. -;   you   can 

always  depend  on  him."  The  old  fellow  shook 
his  head  and  laughed.  Then  he  added:  "If  he 
tells  you  he's  gwine  to  do  anything,  you  can  always 
depend  upon  it  that  he's  not  gwine  to  do  it." 

This  sort  of  change  that  comes  over  people  after 
they  get  office  is  not  confined,  however,  to  the 
Negro  race.  Other  races  seem  to  suffer  in  the  same 
way.  I  have  seen  men  who,  in  the  ordinary  affairs 
of  life,  were  cool  and  level  headed,  grow  suspicious 
and  jealous,  give  up  interest  in  everything,  neglect 
their  business,  sometimes  even  neglect  their  fam- 
ilies; in  short,  lose  entirely  their  mental  and  moral 
balance  as  soon  as  they  started  out  in  quest  of 
an  office. 

I  have  watched  these  men  after  the  political  mi- 
crobe attacked  them,  and  I  know  all  the  symptoms 
of  the  disease  that  follows.  They  usually  begin  by 
carefully  studying  the  daily  newspapers.  They 
attach  great  importance  to  the  slightest  thing  that 
is  said  (or  not  said)  by  persons  who  they  believe 
have  political  influence  or  authority.  These  men 
(the  men  who  dispense  the  offices)  soon  come  to 
assume  an  enormous  importance  in  the  minds  of 
office-seekers.  They  watch  all  the  movements  of 
the  political  leaders  with  the  greatest  anxiety,  and 
study  every  chance  word  that  they  let  drop,  as  if 


"LITTLE  TEXAS"  SCHOOLHOUSE,  ALABAMA 
\\  Inch  has  been  replaced  by  a  $600  building 


WW 


WASHINGTON   MODEL  SCHOOL."  ALABAMA 
\\  ith  dwelling  for  its  two  teachers 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       165 

it  had  some  dark  and  awful  significance.  Then, 
when  they  get  a  little  farther  along,  the  office- 
seekers  will,  perhaps,  be  found  tramping  the  streets, 
getting  signatures  of  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  as  a 
guarantee  that  they  are  best  qualified  to  fill  some 
office  that  they  have  in  view. 

I  remember  the  case  of  a  white  man  who  lived 
in  Alabama  when  President  McKinley  was  first 
elected.  This  man  gave  up  his  business  and  went 
to  Washington  with  a  full  determination  to  secure 
a  place  in  the  President's  cabinet.  He  wrote  me 
regularly  concerning  his  prospects.  After  President 
McKinley  had  filled  all  the  places  in  his  cabinet, 
the  same  individual  applied  for  a  foreign  ambas- 
sadorship; failing  in  that,  he  applied  for  an  auditor- 
ship  in  one  of  the  departments;  failing  in  that,  he 
tried  to  get  a  clerkship  in  Washington;  failing  in 
that,  he  finally  wrote  to  me  (and  to  a  number  of 
other  acquaintances  in  Alabama)  and  asked  me  to 
lend  him  enough  money  to  defray  his  travelling 
expenses  back  to  Alabama. 

Of  course,  not  all  men  who  go  into  politics  are 
affected  in  the  way  that  I  have  described.  Let 
me  add  that  I  have  known  many  public  men  and 
have  studied  them  carefully,  but  the  best  and 
highest  example  of  a  man  that  was  the  same  in 
political  office  that  he  was  in    private  life  is  Col. 


166  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Theodore  Roosevelt.  He  is  not  the  only  example, 
but  he  is  the  most  conspicuous  one  in  this  respect 
that  I  have  ever  known. 

I  was  thrown,  comparatively  early  in  my  career, 
in  contact  with  Colonel  Roosevelt.  He  was  just 
the  sort  of  man  to  whom  any  one  who  was  trying 
to  do  work  of  any  kind  for  the  improvement  of 
any  race  or  type  of  humanity  would  naturally  go  to 
for  advice  and  help.  I  have  seen  him  and  been  in 
close  contact  with  him  under  many  varying  cir- 
cumstances and  I  confess  that  I  have  learned  much 
from  studying  his  career,  both  while  he  was  in  office 
and  since  he  has  been  in  private  life.  One  thing 
that  impresses  me  about  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  that  I 
have  never  known  him,  having  given  a  promise,  to 
overlook  or  forget  it;  in  fact,  he  seems  to  forget 
nothing,  not  even  the  most  trivial  incidents.  I 
found  him  the  same  when  he  was  President  that  he 
was  as  a  private  citizen,  or  as  Governor  of  New  York, 
or  as  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  In  fact, 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  consider  him 
the  highest  type  of  all-round  man  that  I  have 
ever  met. 

One  of  the  most  striking  things  about  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  both  in  private  and  public  life,  is  his 
frankness.  I  have  been  often  amazed  at  the  abso- 
lute directness  and  candour  of  his  speech.     He  does 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       167 

not  seem  to  know  how  to  hide  anything.  In  fact, 
he  se*ems  to  think  aloud.  Many  people  have  re- 
ferred to  him  as  being  impulsive  and  as  acting 
without  due  consideration.  From  what  I  have 
seen  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  this  regard,  I  have  reached 
the  conclusion  that  what  people  describe  as  im- 
pulsiveness in  him  is  nothing  else  but  quickness  of 
thought.  While  other  people  are  thinking  around 
a  question,  he  thinks  through  it.  He  reaches  his 
conclusions  while  other  people  are  considering  the 
preliminaries.  He  cuts  across  the  field,  as  it  were, 
in  his  methods  of  thinking.  It  is  true  that  in  doing 
so  he  often  takes  great  chances  and  risks  much. 
But  Colonel  Roosevelt  is  a  man  who  never  shrinks 
from  taking  chances  when  it  is  necessary  to  take 
them.  I  remember  that,  on  one  occasion,  when 
it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  risked  a  great  deal  in 
pursuing  a  certain  line  of  action,  I  suggested  to 
him  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  taken  a  great 
chance. 

"One  never  wins  a  battle,"  he  replied,  "unless 
he   takes   some   risks." 

Another  characteristic  of  Colonel  Roosevelt,  as 
compared  with  many  other  prominent  men  in 
public  life,  is  that  he  rarely  forgets  or  forsakes  a 
friend.  If  a  man  once  wins  his  confidence,  he 
stands  by  that  man.     One  always  knows  where  to 


168  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

find  him  —  and  that,  in  my  opinion,  accounts  to 
a  large  degree  for  his  immense  popularity.  His 
friend,  particularly  if  he  happens  to  be  holding  a 
public  position,  may  become  very  unpopular  with 
the  public,  but  unless  that  friend  has  disgraced 
himself,  Mr.  Roosevelt  will  always  stand  by  him, 
and  is  not  afraid  or  ashamed  to  do  so.  In  the  long 
run  the  world  respects  a  man  who  has  the  courage 
to  stand  by  his  friends,  whether  in  public  or  private 
life,  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  frequently  gained 
popularity  by  doing  things  that  more  discreet 
politicians  would  have  been  afraid  to  do. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Roosevelt 
through  correspondence.  Later,  in  one  of  my  talks 
with  him  —  and  this  was  at  a  time  when  there 
seemed  little  chance  of  his  ever  becoming  President, 
for  it  was  before  he  had  even  been  mentioned  for 
that  position  —  he  stated  to  me  in  the  frankest 
manner  that  some  day  he  would  like  to  be  President 
of  the  United  States.  The  average  man,  under 
such  circumstances,  would  not  have  thought  aloud. 
If  he  believed  that  there  was  a  remote  opportunity 
of  gaining  the  Presidency,  he  would  have  said  that 
he  was  not  seeking  the  office;  that  his  friends  were 
thrusting  it  on  him;  that  he  did  not  have  the  ability 
to  be  President,  and  so  forth.  Not  so  with  Colonel 
Roosevelt.     He  spoke  out,   as  is  his  custom,   that 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       169 

which  was  in  his  mind.  Even  then,  many  years 
before  he  attained  his  ambition,  he  began  to  out- 
line to  me  how  he  wanted  to  help  not  only  the 
Negro,  but  the  whole  South,  should  he  ever  become 
President.  I  question  whether  any  man  ever  went 
into  the  Presidency  with  a  more  sincere  desire  to  be 
of  real  service  to  the  South  than  Mr.  Roose- 
velt did. 

That  incident  will  indicate  one  of  the  reasons 
why  Mr.  Roosevelt  succeeds.  He  not  only  thinks 
quickly,  but  he  plans  and  thinks  a  long  distance 
ahead.  If  he  had  an  important  state  paper  to  write, 
or  an  important  magazine  article  or  speech  to  pre- 
pare, I  have  known  him  to  prepare  it  six  or  eight 
months  ahead.  The  result  is  that  he  is  at  all  times 
master  of  himself  and  of  his  surroundings.  He  does 
not  let  his  work  push  him;  he  pushes  his  work. 

Practically  everything  that  he  tried  to  do  for  the 
South  while  he  was  President  was  outlined  in  con- 
versations to  me  many  years  before  it  became 
known  to  most  people  that  he  had  the  slightest 
chance  of  becoming  President.  What  he  did  was 
not  a  matter  of  impulse  but  the  result  of  carefully 
matured   plans. 

An  incident  which  occurred  immediately  after 
he  became  President  will  illustrate  the  way  in  which 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  mind  works  upon  a  public  problem. 


170  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

After  the  death  of  President  McKinley  I  received 
a  letter  from  him,  written  in  his  own  hand,  on  the 
very  day  that  he  took  the  oath  of  office  at  Buffalo 
as  President  —  or  was  it  the  day  following?  —  in 
which  he  asked  me  to  meet  him  in  Washington. 
He  wanted  to  talk  over  with  me  the  plans  for  help- 
ing the  South  that  we  had  discussed  years  before. 
This  plan  had  lain  matured  in  his  mind  for  months 
and  years  and,  as  soon  as  the  opportunity  came, 
he   acted   upon   it. 

When  I  received  this  letter  from  Mr.  Roosevelt, 
asking  me  to  meet  him  in  Washington,  I  confess 
that  it  caused  me  some  grave  misgivings.  I  felt 
that  I  must  consider  seriously  the  question  whether 
I  should  allow  myself  to  be  drawn  into  a  kind  of 
activity  that  I  had  definitely  determined  to  keep 
away  from.  But  here  was  a  letter  which,  it  seemed 
to  me,  I  could  not  lightly  put  aside,  no  matter 
what  my  personal  wishes  or  feelings  might  be. 
Shortly  after  Mr.  Roosevelt  became  established  in 
the  White  House  I  went  there  to  see  him  and  we 
spent  the  greater  part  of  an  evening  in  talk  con- 
cerning the  South.  In  this  conversation  he  em- 
phasized two  points  in  particular:  First,  he  said 
that  wherever  he  appointed  a  white  man  to  office 
in  the  South  he  wished  him  to  be  the  very  highest 
type  of  native  Southern  white  man  —  one  in  whom 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       171 

the  whole  country  had  faith.  He  repeated  and 
emphasized  his  determination  to  appoint  such  a 
type  of  man  regardless  of  political  influences  or 
political    consequences. 

Then  he  stated  to  me,  quite  frankly,  that  he  did 
not  propose  to  appoint  a  large  number  of  coloured 
people  to  office  in  any  part  of  the  South,  but  that 
he  did  propose  to  do  two  things  which  had  not  been 
done  before  that  time  —  at  least  not  to  the  extent 
and  with  the  definite  purpose  that  he  had  in  mind. 
Wherever  he  did  appoint  a  coloured  man  to  office 
in  the  South,  he  said  that  he  wanted  him  to  be  not 
only  a  man  of  ability,  but  of  character  —  a  man  who 
had  the  confidence  of  his  white  and  coloured  neigh- 
bours. He  did  not  propose  to  appoint  a  coloured 
man  to  office  simply  for  the  purpose  of  temporary 
political  expediency.  He  added  that,  while  he 
proposed  to  appoint  fewer  coloured  men  to  office 
in  the  South,  he  proposed  to  put  a  certain  number 
of  coloured  men  of  high  character  and  ability  in 
Office  in  the  Northern  states.  He  said  that  he 
had  never  been  able  to  see  any  good  reason  why 
coloured  men  should  be  put  in  office  in  the  Southern 
states  and  not  in  the  North  as  well. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  before  Mr.  Roosevelt  became 
President,  not  a  single  coloured  man  had  ever  been 
appointed,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  a  Federal  office  in 


172  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

any  Northern  state.  Mr.  Roosevelt  determined 
to  set  the  example  by  placing  a  coloured  man  in  a 
high  office  in  his  own  home  city,  so  that  the  country 
might  see  that  he  did  not  want  other  parts  of  the 
country  to  accept  that  which  he  himself  was  not 
willing  to  receive.  Some  months  afterward,  as  a 
result  of  this  policy,  the  Hon.  Charles  W.  Anderson 
was  made  collector  of  internal  revenues  for  the  sec- 
ond district  of  New  York.  This  is  the  district  in 
which  Wall  Street  is  located  and  the  district  that 
receives,  perhaps,  more  revenue  than  any  other  in  the 
United  States.  Later  on,  Mr.  Roosevelt  appointed 
other  coloured  men  to  high  office  in  the  North  and 
West,  but  I  think  that  any  one  who  examines  into 
the  individual  qualifications  of  the  coloured  men 
appointed  to  office  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  will  find,  in 
each  case,  that  they  were  what  he  insisted  that  they 
should  be  —  men  of  superior  ability  and  of  superior 
character. 

President  Taft  happily  has  followed  the  same 
policy.  He  has  appointed  Whitefield  McKinlay,  of 
Washington,  to  the  collectorship  of  the  port  of 
Georgetown,  a  position  which  has  never  heretofore 
been  held  by  a  black  man.  He  had  designated  J.  C. 
Napier,  cashier  of  the  One-Cent  Savings  Bank  of 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  to  serve  as  register  of  the  United 
States  treasury;  and  he  has  recently  announced  the 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       173 

appointment  of  William  H.  Lewis,  assistant  United 
States  district  attorney,  Boston,  Mass.,  to  the 
highest  appointive  position  ever  held  by  a  black 
man  under  the  Federal  Government,  namely,  to 
a  place  as  assistant  attorney  general  of  the  United 
States. 

Back  of  their  desire  to  improve  the  public  service, 
Mr.  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Taft  have  had  another  pur- 
pose in  appointing  to  office  the  kind  of  coloured 
people  that  I  have  named.  They  have  said  that 
they  desire  the  persons  appointed  by  them  to  be  men 
of  the  highest  character  in  order  that  the  younger 
generation  of  coloured  people  might  see  that  men 
of  conspicuous  ability  and  conspicuous  purity  of 
character  are  recognized  in  politics  as  in  other 
walks  of  life.  They  have  hoped  that  such  recog- 
nition might  lead  other  coloured  people  to  strive 
to  attain  a  high  reputation. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  did  not  apply  this  rule  to  the 
appointments  of  coloured  people  alone.  He  be- 
lieved that  he  could  not  only  greatly  improve  the 
public  service,  but  to  some  extent  could  change 
the  tone  of  politics  in  the  South  and  improve  the 
relations  of  the  races  by  the  appointment  of  men 
who  stood  high  in  their  professions  and  who  were 
not  only  friendly  to  the  coloured  people  but  had 
the  confidence  of  the  white  people  as  well.     These 


174  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

men,  he  hoped,  would  be  to  the  South  a  sort  of 
model  of  what  the  Federal  Government  desired 
and  expected  of  its  officials  in  their  relations  with 
all  parties. 

During  the  first  conference  with  Mr.  Roosevelt 
in  the  White  House,  after  discussing  many  matters, 
he  finally  agreed  to  appoint  a  certain  white  man, 
whose  name  had  been  discussed,  to  an  important 
judicial  position.  Within  a  few  days  the  appoint- 
ment was  made  and  accepted.  I  question  whether 
any  appointment  made  in  the  South  has  ever  at- 
tracted more  attention  or  created  more  favourable 
comment  from  people  of  all  classes  than  was  true 
of   this    one. 

During  the  fall  of  1901,  v/hile  I  was  making  a 
tour  of  Mississippi,  I  received  word  to  the  effect 
that  the  President  would  like  to  have  a  conference 
with  me,  as  soon  as  it  was  convenient,  concerning 
some  important  matters.  With  a  friend,  who  was 
travelling  with  me,  I  discussed  very  seriously  the 
question  whether,  with  the  responsibilities  I  already 
had,  I  should  take  on  others.  After  considering 
the  matter  carefully,  we  decided  that  the  only 
policy  to  pursue  was  to  face  the  new  responsibilities 
as  they  arose,  because  new  responsibilities  bring 
new  opportunities  for  usefulness  of  which  I  ought 
to  take  advantage  in  the  interest  of  my  race.     I 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WFAT  I  LEARNED       175 

was  the  more  disposed  to  feet  that  this  was  a  duty 
because  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  proposing  to  carry  out 
the  very  policies  which  I  had'  advocated  ever  since 
I  began  work  in  Alabama.  Immediately  after 
finishing  my  work  in  Missis sipp;  I  went  to  Washing- 
ton. I  arrived  there  in  the  afternoon  and  went  to 
the  house  of  a  friend,  Mr.  Whitefield  McKinlay, 
with  whom  I  was  expected  to  stop  during  my  stay 
in    Washington. 

This  trip  to  Washington  brings  me  to  a  matter 
which  I  have  hitherto  constantly  refused  to  discuss 
in  print  or  in  public,  though  I  have  had  a  great 
many  requests  to  do  so.  At  the  time,  I  did  not  care 
to  add  fuel  to  the  controversy  which  it  aroused, 
and  I  speak  of  it  now  only  because  it  seems  to  me 
that  an  explanation  will  show  the  incident  in  its 
true  light  and  in  its  proper  proportions. 

When  I  reached  Mr.  McKinlay's  house  I  found 
an  invitation  from  President  Roosevelt  asking 
me  to  dine  with  him  at  the  White  House  that  evening 
at  eight  o'clock.  At  the  hour  appointed  I  went 
to  the  White  House  and  dined  with  the  President 
and  members  of  his  family  and  a  gentleman  from 
Colorado.  After  dinner  we  talked  at  considerable 
length  concerning  plans  about  the  South  which 
the  President  had  in  mind.  I  left  the  White  House 
almost  immediately  and  took  a  train  the  same  night 


176  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

for  New  York.  When  1  reached  New  York  the  next 
morning  I  noticed  that  the  New  York  Tribune 
had  about  two  lines  .stating  that  I  had  dined  with 
the  President  the  previous  night.  That  was  the 
only  New  York  pap^r,  so  far  as  I  saw,  that  men- 
tioned the  matter.  Within  a  few  hours  the  whole 
incident  completely  passed  from  my  mind.  I 
mentioned  the  matter  casually,  during  the  day,  to 
a  friend  —  Mr.  William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.,  then 
president  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  —  but  spoke 
of  it  to  no  one  else  and  had  no  intention  of  doing 
so.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  reason  why  I  should 
discuss  it  or  mention  it  to  any  one. 

My  surprise  can  be  imagined  when,  two  or  three 
days  afterward,  the  whole  press,  North  and  South, 
was  filled  with  despatches  and  editorials  relating 
to  my  dinner  with  the  President.  For  days  and 
weeks  I  was  pursued  by  reporters  in  quest  of  inter- 
views. I  was  deluged  with  telegrams  and  letters 
asking  for  some  expression  of  opinion  or  an  explana- 
tion; but  during  the  whole  of  this  period  of  agitation 
and  excitement  I  did  not  give  out  a  single  interview 
and  did  not  discuss  the  matter  in  any  way. 

Some  newspapers  attempted  to  weave  into  this 
incident  a  deliberate  and  well-planned  scheme  on 
the  part  of  President  Roosevelt  to  lead  the  way  in 
bringing  about  the  social  intermingling  of  the  two 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       177 

races.  I  am  sure  that  nothing  was  farther  from  the 
President's  mind  than  this;  certainly  it  was  not  in 
my  mind.  Mr.  Roosevelt  s.mply  found  that  he 
could  spare  the  time  best  during  and  after  the  dinner 
hour  for  the  discussion  of  the  matters  which  both 
of  us  were  interested  in. 

The  public  interest  aroused  by  this  dinner  seemed 
all  the  more  extraordinary  and  uncalled  for  because, 
on  previous  occasions,  I  had  taken  tea  with  Queen 
Victoria  at  Windsor  Castle;  I  had  dined  with  the 
governors  of  nearly  every  state  in  the  North;  I  had 
dined  in  the  same  room  with  President  McKinley 
at  Chicago  at  the  Peace-jubilee  dinner;  and  I  had 
dined  with  ex-President  Harrison  in  Paris,  and  with 
many  other  prominent  public  men. 

Some  weeks  after  the  incident  I  was  making  a 
trip  through  Florida.  In  some  way  it  became 
pretty  generally  known  along  the  railroad  that  I 
was  on  the  train,  and  the  result  was  that  at  nearly 
every  station  a  group  of  people  would  get  aboard 
and  shake  hands  with  me.  At  a  little  station  near 
Gainesville,  Fla.,  a  white  man  got  aboard  the  train 
whose  dress  and  manner  indicated  that  he  was 
from  the  class  of  small  farmers  in  that  part  of  the 
country.  He  shook  hands  with  me  very  cordially, 
and  said: 

"I  am  mighty  glad  to  see  you.     I  have  heard 


178  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

about  you  and  I  hav<.  been  wanting  to  meet  you 
for  a  long  while." 

I  was  naturally  phased  at  this  cordial  reception, 
but  I  was  surprised  when,  after  looking  me  over,  he 
remarked:  "Say,  you  are  a  great  man.  You  are 
the  greatest  man  hi  this  country!" 

I  protested  mildly,  but  he  insisted,  shaking  his 
head  and  repeating,  "Yes,  sir,  the  greatest  man  in 
this  country."  Finally  I  asked  him  what  he  had 
against  President  Roosevelt,  telling  him  at  the  same 
time  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  was  the  greatest  man  in  the  country. 

"Huh!  Roosevelt?"  he  replied  with  considerable 
emphasis  in  his  voice.  "I  used  to  think  that  Roose- 
velt was  a  great  man  until  he  ate  dinner  with 
you.     That  settled  him  for  me." 

This  remark  of  a  Florida  farmer  is  but  one  of 
the  many  experiences  which  have  taught  me  some- 
thing of  the  curious  nature  of  this  thing  that  we 
call  prejudice  —  social  prejudice,  race  prejudice, 
and  all  the  rest.  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  these  prejudices  are  something  that  it  does 
not  pay  to  disturb.  It  is  best  to  "let  sleeping  dogs 
lie."  All  sections  of  the  United  States,  like  all 
other  parts  of  the  world,  have  their  own  peculiar 
customs  and  prejudices.  For  that  reason  it  is  the 
part  of  common-sense  to  respect  them.     When  one 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED       179 

goes  to  European  countries  or  into  the  Far  West, 
or  into  India  or  China,  he  meets  certain  customs 
and  certain  prejudices  which  he  is  bound  to  respect 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  comply  with.  The  same 
holds  good  regarding  conditio  ns  in  the  North  and 
in  the  South.  In  the  South  it  is  not  the  custom 
for  coloured  and  white  people  to  be  entertained 
at  the  same  hotel;  it  is  not  the  custom  for  black 
and  white  children  to  attend  the  same  school.  In 
most  parts  of  the  North  a  different  custom  pre- 
vails. I  have  never  stopped  to  question  or  quarrel 
with  the  customs  of  the  people  in  the  part  of  the 
country  in  which  I  found  myself. 

Thus,  in  dining  with  President  Roosevelt,  there 
was  no  disposition  on  my  part  —  and  I  am  sure 
there  was  no  disposition  on  Mr.  Roosevelt's  part  — 
to  attack  any  custom  of  the  South.  There  is, 
therefore,  absolutely  no  ground  or  excuse  for  the 
assertion  sometimes  made  that  our  dining  together 
was  part  of  a  preconcerted  and  well-thought-out 
plan.  It  was  merely  an  incident  that  had  no 
thought  or  motive  behind  it  except  the  conven- 
ience of  the  President. 

I  was  born  in  the  South  and  I  understand  thor- 
oughly the  prejudices,  the  customs,  the  traditions 
of  the  South  —  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem  to 
those  who  do  not  wholly  understand  the  situation, 


180  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  love  the  South.  There  is  no  Southern  white  man 
who  cherishes  a  deeper  interest  than  I  in  every- 
thing that  promotes  the  progress  and  the  glory  of 
the  South.  For  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  I  will 
never  willingly  and  knowingly  do  anything  that, 
in  my  opinion,  will  provoke  bitterness  between  the 
races  or  misunderstanding  between  the  North  and 
the   South. 

Now  that  the  excitement  in  regard  to  it  is  all 
over,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place,  perhaps,  for  me  to 
recall  the  famous  order  disbanding  a  certain  portion 
of  the  Twenty-fifth  Infantry  (a  Negro  regiment) 
because  of  the  outbreak  at  Brownsville,  Texas, 
particularly  since  this  is  an  illustration  of  the  trait 
in  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  which  I  have  referred.  I 
do  not  mind  stating  here  that  I  did  not  agree  with 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  method  of  punishing  the  Negro 
soldiers,  even  supposing  that  they  were  guilty. 
In  his  usual  frank  way,  he  told  me  several  days 
prior  to  issuing  that  order  what  he  was  going  to 
do.  I  urged  that  he  find  some  other  method  of 
punishing  the  soldiers.  While,  in  some  matters, 
I  was  perhaps  instrumental  in  getting  him  to  change 
an  opinion  that  he  had  formed,  in  this  case  he  told 
me  that  his  mind  was  perfectly  clear  and  that  he 
had  reached  a  definite  decision  which  he  would  not 
change,  because  he  was  certain  that  he  was  right. 


ROOSEVELT  AND  WHAT  I  LEARNED      181 

At  the  time  this  famous  order  was  issued  there 
was  no  man  in  the  world  who  was  so  beloved  by 
the  ten  millions  of  Negroes  in  America  as  Colonel 
Roosevelt.  His  praises  were  sung  by  them  on 
every  possible  occasion.  He  wis  their  idol.  Within 
a  few  days  —  I  might  almost  say  hours  —  as  a 
consequence  of  this  order,  the  songs  of  praise  of 
ten  millions  of  people  were  turned  into  a  chorus 
of  criticism  and  censure. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  was  over  and  over  again  urged 
and  besought  by  many  of  his  best  friends,  both 
white  and  coloured,  to  modify  or  change  this  order. 
Even  President  Taft,  who  was  at  that  time  Secretary 
of  War,  urged  him  to  withdraw  the  order  or  modify 
it.  I  urged  him  to  do  the  same  thing.  He  stood 
his  ground  and  refused.  He  said  that  he  was  con- 
vinced that  he  was  right  and  that  events  would 
justify    his    course. 

Nothwithstanding  the  fact  that  I  was  deeply 
concerned  in  the  outcome  of  this  order,  I  confess 
that  I  could  not  but  admire  the  patience  with 
which  Mr.  Roosevelt  waited  for  the  storm  to  blow 
over.  I  do  not  think  that  the  criticisms  and  denun- 
ciation which  he  received  had  the  effect  of  swerving 
him  in  the  least  from  the  general  course  that  he 
had  determined  to  pursue  with  regard  to  the  col- 
oured people  of    the    country.     He    was    just   as 


182  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

friendly  in  his  attitude  to  them  after  the  Browns- 
ville affair  as  before. 

Months  have  passed  since  the  issuing  of  the 
order;  the  agitation  lias  subsided  and  the  bitterness 
has  disappeared.  I  think  that  I  am  safe  in  saying 
that,  while  the  majority  of  coloured  people  still 
feel  that  Colonel  Roosevelt  made  a  mistake  in  issu- 
ing the  order,  there  is  no  individual  who  is  more 
popular  and  more  loved  by  the  ten  millions  of 
Negroes  in  America  than  he. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  THROUGH  THE 
SOUTH  AND  WHAT  THE?  TAUGHT  ME 

|EVERAL  years  ago,  in  company  with  a  few 
personal  friends,  most  of  them  Negro  busi- 
ness men  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  I  made  a 
week's  journey  through  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma, 
visiting  most  of  the  principal  cities,  speaking, 
wherever  I  had  time  and  opportunity  along  the 
route,  to  audiences  of  both  races. 

In  order  to  cover  as  much  ground  as  possible  in 
the  eight  days  we  had  allotted  to  the  trip,  and  in 
order  to  make  the  journey  as  comfortable  as  possible, 
we  secured  a  special  car  in  St.  Louis  and  on  the  night 
of  November  17,  1905,  I  think  it  was,  we  started 
out  on  what  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
memorable  journeys  I  have  ever  made. 

For  several  years  my  friend,  Mr.  John  E.  Bush, 
receiver  of  public  moneys  at  Little  Rock,  and  at 
that  time  head  of  the  local  Negro  Business  League 
in  that  city,  had  been  urging  me  to  come  and  see  for 

183 


i84  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

myself  the  progress  which  Negroes  were  making 
in  Little  Rock  and  the  neighbouring  city  of  Pine 
Bluff.  After  I  had  finally  decided  to  accept  his 
invitation,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  take 
advantage  of  the  cpportunity  to  see  something, 
also,  of  the  progress  Negroes  were  making  in  the 
neighbouring  state  of  Oklahoma  and  in  what  was 
then  the  Indian  Territory. 

At  that  time  thousands  of  Negroes  were  pouring 
into  this  new  country  from  the  South.  Some  of  my 
own  students  were  either  in  business  or  teaching 
school  in  different  parts  of  the  present  state  of  Okla- 
homa and  from  them,  and  from  other  sources,  I  had 
heard  much  of  the  progress  that  coloured  people 
were  making,  particularly  at  Muskogee  and  in  the 
booming  little  Negro  town  of  Boley,  where,  within 
a  few  years,  a  flourishing  little  city,  controlled  en- 
tirely by  Negroes,  and  without  a  single  white  inhabi- 
tant, had  sprung  into  existence. 

In  the  course  of  my  journey  I  visited  not  only 
Little  Rock  and  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  but  Oklahoma 
City,  Guthrie,  Muskogee,  South  McAIester,  and 
several  other  towns  in  Oklahoma,  and  I  confess  that 
I  was  surprised  to  note  the  enterprise  which  these 
coloured  immigrants  had  shown  and  the  progress 
they  were  making,  particularly  in  material  and 
business  directions.     I  met  successful  farmers,  who, 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  185 

having  sold  their  farms  in  T<»xas  or  in  Kansas  at  a 
considerable  advance,  had  come  out  into  this  new 
country  to  re-invest  their  money.  I  made  the  ac- 
quaintance in  nearly  every  part  of  the  state,  of 
successful  merchants,  bankers,  and  professional 
men.  At  South  McAlester  I  stayed  at  the  home 
of  E.  E.  McDaniels,  a  successful  railway  contractor, 
the  first  Negro  I  ever  happened  to  meet  who  was 
engaged  in  that  business.  At  Oklahoma  City  I 
remember  meeting  Albert  Smith,  who  is  known  out 
there  as  the  "Negro  cotton  king"  because  he  gained 
the  prize  at  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1900  for  the  best 
bale  of  cotton.  It  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to 
be  able  to  talk  with  these  men,  to  hear  from  their 
own  lips  the  stories  of  their  struggles,  of  their  diffi- 
culties, mistakes,  and  successes.  It  seemed  to  me 
that,  after  talking  with  them  around  the  fireside 
and  in  the  close  and  intimate  way  I  have  suggested, 
I  gained  a  deeper  insight  into  the  forces  that  were 
making  for  the  upbuilding  of  my  race  than  I  could 
have  possibly  gained  in  any  other  way. 

One  thing  that  particularly  impressed  me  was  the 
difference  between  the  condition  of  the  coloured  peo- 
ple who  were  pouring  into  this  new  portion  of  the 
Southwest  and  the  condition  of  those  who  some 
thirty  years  before  had  poured  into  Kansas  at  the 
time  of  the  famous  "exodus."     At  that  time  some 


186  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

forty  thousand  bewildered  and  helpless  coloured 
people,  coming  for  the  most  part  from  the  planta- 
tions of  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Mississippi,  made 
their  way  to  Kansas  in  the  hope  of  finding  there 
greater  opportunity  and  more  freedom.  It  was  peo- 
ple from  these  same  regions  who,  with  much  the 
same  purpose,  were  at  this  time  pouring  into  Okla- 
homa. The  difference  was  that  these  later  immi- 
grants came  with  a  definite  notion  of  where  they 
were  going;  they  brought  a  certain  amount  of  cap- 
ital with  them,  and  had  a  pretty  clear  idea  of  what 
they  would  find  and  what  they  proposed  to  do  when 
they  reached  their  destination.  The  difference 
in  these  two  movements  of  the  population  seemed 
to  me  the  most  striking  indication  I  had  seen  of  the 
progress  which  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  had 
made  in  a  little  more  than  thirty  years. 

During  the  next  five  years,  in  company  with  dif- 
ferent parties  of  Negro  business  and  professional 
men,  I  made  similar  journeys  of  observation  through 
Mississippi,  Tennessee,  South  Carolina,  North 
Carolina,  Delaware,  and  portions  of  Virginia  and 
West  Virginia.  In  several  instances  we  made  ,use 
of  special  trains  to  make  these  trips,  and  this  enabled 
us  to  cover  longer  distances  and  make  the  journey 
practically  on  our  own  time.  On  each  of  these 
journeys   I   took   advantage   of  my  opportunities, 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  187 

not  only  to  meet  and  talk  with  the  people  individ- 
ually, but  also  to  speak  to  large  audiences  of  white 
and  coloured  people  about  many  matters  which 
concerned  the  interests  of  both  races  and  partic- 
ularly about  the  importance,  to  both  races,  of  in- 
creasing the  efficiency  of  the  Negro  schools.  In 
fact,  I  had  not  made  more  than  two  or  three  of  these 
trips  before  they  came  to  be  regarded  by  both  white 
and  coloured  people  as  the  beginning,  in  each  of  the 
states  I  visited,  of  a  movement  or  campaign  in  the 
interest  of  Negro  education. 

Perhaps  I  can  best  indicate  the  character  of  these 
campaigns  and  the  sort  of  information  and  insight 
that  they  gave  me  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 
coloured  people  in  the  states  I  visited  by  giving  a 
more  extended  account  of  my  journey  in  Missis- 
sippi in  1908.  As  an  indication  of  the  general 
interest  in  the  purpose  and  the  success  of  my 
visit  I  ought  to  say  that,  while  the  journey  was 
made  under  the  direction  of  the  Negro  Business 
League  of  Mississippi,  representatives  of  nearly 
every  important  interest  among  Negroes  in  the 
state  either  accompanied  the  party  for  a  portion 
of  the  journey  or  assisted  in  making  the  meetings 
successful  at  the  different  places  at  which  we 
stopped.  For  instance,  as  I  remember,  there  were 
not  less  than  eight  presidents  of  Negro  banks  and 


188  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

many  other  successful  business  men  in  the  course 
of  the  eight-day  trip.  Among  them  were  Charles 
Banks,  president  of  the  Negro  Business  League 
of  Mississippi,  and  one  of  the  most  influential 
coloured  men  of  the  state.  It  was  he  who  was  more 
directly  responsible  than  any  one  else  for  organizing 
and  making  a  success  of  our  journey.  Not  only 
the  business  men,  but  the  representatives  of  differ- 
ent religious  denominations  and  of  the  secret  organi- 
zations, which  are  particularly  strong  in  Mississippi, 
united  with  the  members  of  the  business  league 
to  make  the  meetings  which  we  held  in  the  different 
parts  of  the  state  as  successful  and  as  influential  as 
it  was  possible  to  make  them. 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  small  importance  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  people  of  my  race  in  Mississippi  that 
business  men,  teachers,  and  the  members  of  the 
different  religious  denominations  are  uniting  dis- 
interestedly in  the  effort  to  give  the  coloured  chil- 
dren of  the  state  a  proper  and  adequate  educa- 
tion, and  that  they  are  using  their  influence  to  en- 
courage the  masses  of  the  people  to  get  property 
and  build  homes. 

Dr.  E.  C.  Morris,  for  instance,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  party,  represents  the  largest  Negro  organi- 
zation of  any  kind  in  the  world  —  the  National 
Baptist  Convention,   which   has   a   membership  of 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  189 

more  than  two  millions;  J.  W.  Straughter,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  finance  committee  of  the  Negro  Pythians, 
represented  an  organization  of  about  seventy  thou- 
sand persons,  owning  about  three  hundred  and 
twenty-two  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  property. 
The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Review,  of  which 
Dr.  H.  T.  Kealing,  now  president  of  the  Negro 
college  at  Quindaro,  Kan.,  is  editor,  is  probably 
the  best-edited  and  one  of  the  most  influential 
periodicals  published  by  the  Negro  race.  It  has 
been  in  existence  now  for  more  than  twenty-five 
years. 

I  have  mentioned  the  names  of  these  men  and 
have  referred  to  their  positions  and  influence  among 
the  Negro  people  as  showing  how  widespread  at 
the  present  time  is  the  interest  in  the  moral  and 
material  upbuilding  of  the  race. 

I  had  heard  a  great  deal,  indirectly,  before  I 
reached  Mississippi,  of  the  progress  that  the  coloured 
people  were  making  there.  I  had  also  heard  a  great 
deal  through  the  newspapers  of  the  difficulties  under 
which  they  were  labouring.  There  are  some  por- 
tions of  Mississippi,  for  instance,  where  a  large 
part  of  the  coloured  population  has  been  driven 
out  as  a  result  of  white-capping  organizations. 
There  are  other  portions  of  the  state  where  the  white 
people  and  the  coloured  people  seem  to  be  getting 


i9o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

along  as  well  as,  if  not  better  than,  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  Union. 

After  leaving  Memphis,  the  first  place  at  which 
we  stopped  was  Holly  Springs,  in  Marshall  County. 
Holly  Springs  has  long  been  an  educational  centre 
for  the  coloured  people  of  Mississippi.  Shortly  after 
the  war  the  Freedman's  Aid  and  Southern  Edu- 
cational Society  of  the  Methodist  Church  established 
here  Rust  University.  Until  a  few  years  ago  the 
State  Normal  School  for  Training  Negro  Teachers 
was  in  existence  in  Holly  Springs,  when  it  was 
finally  abolished  by  former  Governor  Vardaman. 
The  loss  of  this  school  was  a  source  of  great  disap- 
pointment to  the  coloured  people  of  the  state,  as 
they  felt  that,  in  vetoing  the  appropriation,  the 
governor  was  making  an  attack  upon  the  Negro 
education  of  the  state.  Under  the  leadership  of 
Bishop  Cottrell,  a  new  industrial  school  and  theo- 
logical seminary  has  grown  up  to  take  the  place  of 
theNormalTraining  School  and  do  its  work.  During 
the  previous  two  years  Bishop  Cottrell  had  succeeded 
in  raising  more  than  seventy-five  thousand  dollars, 
largely  from  the  coloured  people  of  Mississippi,  in 
order  to  erect  the  two  handsome  modern  buildings 
which  form  the  nucleus  of  the  new  school.  In  this 
city  there  had  also  been  recently  established  a  Bap- 
tist Normal  School,  which  is  the  contribution  of  the 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  191 

Negro  Baptists  of  the  state  in  response  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  State  Normal  School. 

The  enthusiasm  for  education  that  I  discovered 
at  Holly  Springs  is  merely  an  indication  of  the  sim- 
ilar enthusiasm  in  every  other  part  of  the  state  that 
I  visited.  At  Utica,  Miss.,  I  spoke  in  the  assembly 
room  of  the  Utica  Institute,  founded  October  27, 
1903,  by  William  H.  Holtzclaw,  a  graduate  of  Tus- 
kegee.  After  leaving  Tuskegee  he  determined  to 
go  to  the  part  of  the  country  where  it  seemed  to  him 
that  the  coloured  people  were  most  in  need  of  a 
school  that  could  be  conducted  along  the  lines  of 
Tuskegee  Institute.  He  settled  in  Hinds  County, 
where  there  are  forty  thousand  coloured  people, 
thirteen  thousand  of  whom  can  neither  read  nor 
write.  In  the  community  in  which  this  school 
was  started  the  Negroes  outnumber  the  whites 
seven  to  one.  He  began  teaching  out  in  the  forests. 
From  the  very  first  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
sympathy  of  both  races  for  the  work  that  he  was 
trying  to  do.  In  the  five  years  since  the  school 
started  he  has  succeeded  in  purchasing  a  farm  of 
fifteen  hundred  acres.  He  had  at  that  time  erected 
three  large  and  eleven  small  buildings  of  various 
kinds  for  school  rooms,  shops,  and  homes.  On  the 
farm  there  were  one  large  plantation  house  and 
about  thirty  farm  houses.     He  told  me  that  a  con- 


i92  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

servative  estimate  of  the  property  which  the  school 
owned  would  make  the  valuation  something  more 
than  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  In  addition 
to  this,  he  has  already  started  an  endowment  fund 
in  order  to  make  the  work  that  he  is  doing  there  per- 
manent, and  to  give  aid  by  means  of  scholarships 
to  worthy  students  who  are  not  fully  able  to  pay 
their  own  way. 

At  Jackson,  Miss.,  there  are  two  colleges  for 
Negro  students.  Campbell  College  was  founded 
by  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  Jack- 
son College,  which  had  just  opened  a  handsome  new 
building  for  the  use  of  its  students,  was  established 
and  is  supported  by  the  Baptist  denomination. 
At  Natchez  I  was  invited  to  take  part  in  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  beautiful  new  building  erected  by  the 
Negro  Baptists  of  Mississippi  at  a  cost  of  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  that,  while  there  has  been 
considerable  rivalry  among  the  different  Negro 
churches  along  theological  lines,  it  seems  to  me  that 
I  can  see  that,  as  the  leaders  of  the  people  begin  to 
realize  the  seriousness  of  the  educational  problem, 
this  rivalry  is  gradually  dying  out  in  a  disinterested 
effort  to  educate  the  masses  of  the  Negro  children 
irrespective  of  denominations.  The  so-called  de- 
nominational schools  are  merely  a  contribution  of  the 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  193 

members  of  the  different  sects  to  the  education  of 
the  race. 

Nothing  indicates  the  progress  which  the  coloured 
people  have  made  along  material  lines  so  well  as 
the  number  of  banks  that  have  been  started  by 
coloured  people  in  all  parts  of  the  South.  I  have 
made  a  special  effort  recently  to  learn  something 
of  the  influence  of  these  institutions  upon  the  mass 
of  the  coloured  people.  At  the  present  time  there 
are  no  less  than  fifty-six  Negro  banks  in  the  United 
States.  All  but  one  or  two  of  them  are  in  the  South- 
ern States.  Of  these  fifty-six  banks,  eleven  are 
in  the  state  of  Mississippi.  Not  infrequently  I 
have  found  that  Negro  banks  owe  their  existence 
to  the  secret  and  fraternal  organizations.  There 
are  forty-two  of  these  organizations,  for  example, 
in  the  state  of  Mississippi,  and  they  collected 
#708,670  in  1907,  and  paid  losses  to  the  amount  of 
#522,757.  Frequently  the  banks  have  been  estab- 
lished to  serve  as  depositories  for  the  funds  of  these 
institutions.  They  have  then  added  a  savings 
department,  and  have  done  banking  business  for 
an  increasing  number  of  stores  and  shops  of  various 
kinds  that  have  been  established  within  the  last 
ten  years  by  Negro  business  men. 

A  special  study  of  the  city  of  Jackson,  Miss., 
made  shortly  before  I  visited  the  city,  showed  that 


194  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

there  were  ninety-three  businesses  conducted  by 
Negroes  in  that  city.  Of  this  number,  forty-four 
concerns  did  a  total  annual  business  of  about  three 
hundred  and  eighty-eight  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
But,  of  this  amount  of  business,  one  contractor 
alone  did  one  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth. 
As  near  as  could  be  estimated,  about  73  per  cent,  of 
the  coloured  people  owned  or  were  buying  their 
own  homes.  It  is  said  that  the  Negroes,  who  make 
up  one  half  of  the  population,  own  one  third  of  the 
area  of  the  city  of  Jackson.  The  value  of  this  prop- 
erty, however,  is  only  about  one  eleventh  of  the 
taxable  value  of  the  city. 

As  nearly  as  could  be  estimated  at  that  time, 
Negroes  had  on  deposit  in  the  various  banks  of  the 
city  almost  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Of 
this  amount,  more  than  seventy  thousand  was  in 
the  two  Negro  banks  of  the  city.  I  learned  that 
mostof  these  businesses  had  been  started  in  the  pre- 
vious ten  years,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of  the 
oldest  business  men  in  Jackson  is  a  coloured  man, 
with  whom  I  stopped  during  my  visit  to  that  city. 
H.  T.  Risher  is  the  leading  business  man  in  his 
particular  line  in  Jackson.  He  has  had  a  bakery 
and  restaurant  in  that  city,  as  I  understand,  for 
more  than  twenty  years.  He  has  one  of  the  hand- 
somest of  the  many  beautiful  residences  of  coloured 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  195 

people  in  Jackson,  which  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  visit  on  my  journey  through  the  state. 

Among  the  other  business  enterprises  that  es- 
pecially attracted  my  attention  during  my  journey 
was  the  drug  store  and  offices  of  Dr.  A.  W.  Dumas, 
of  Natchez.  His  store  is  located  in  a  handsome 
two-story  brick  block,  and  although  there  are  a 
large  number  of  Negro  druggists  in  the  United 
States,  I  know  of  no  store  which  is  better  kept  and 
makes  a  more  handsome  appearance. 

According  to  the  plan  of  our  journey,  I  was  to 
spend  seven  days  in  Mississippi,  starting  from  Mem- 
phis, Tenn.,  going  thence  to  Holly  Springs,  Utica, 
Jackson,  Natchez,  Vicksburg,  Greenville,  Mound 
Bayou,  and  then,  crossing  the  Mississippi,  to  spend 
Sunday  in  the  city  of  Helena,  Ark.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  did  stop  at  other  places  and  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  speak  to  audiences  of  coloured  people  and 
white  people  at  various  places  along  the  railroad, 
the  conductor  kindly  holding  the  train  for  me  to 
do  this  at  several  points,  so  that  I  think  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  I  spoke  to  forty  or  fifty  thousand  people 
during  the  eight  days  of  our  journey.  Everywhere,- 
I  found  the  greatest  interest  and  enthusiasm  among 
both  the  white  people  and  coloured  people  for  the 
work  that  we  were  attempting  to  do.  In  Jackson, 
which  for  a  number  of  years  had  been  the  centre  of 


i96  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

agitation  upon  the  Negro  question,  there  was  some 
opposition  expressed  to  the  white  people  of  the  town 
attending  the  meeting,  but  I  was  told  that  among  the 
people  in  the  audience  were  Governor  Noel;  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Manship;  Major  R.  W.  Milsaps,  who 
is  said  to  be  the  wealthiest  man  in  Mississippi;  Bishop 
Charles  B.  Galloway,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  (South),  who  has  since  died;  United  States 
Marshal  Edgar  S.  Wilson;  the  postmaster  of  Jack- 
son, and  a  number  of  other  prominent  persons. 

At  Natchez  the  white  people  were  so  interested 
in  the  object  of  the  meeting  that  they  expressed  a 
desire  to  pay  for  the  opera  house  in  which  I  spoke, 
provided  that  the  seating  capacity  should  be  equally 
divided  between  the  two  races.  At  Vicksburg  I 
spoke  in  a  large  building  that  had  been  used  for 
some  time  for  a  roller-skating  rink.  I  was  informed 
that  hundreds  of  people  who  wished  to  attend  the 
meeting  were  unable  to  find  places.  At  Greenville 
I  delivered  an  address  in  the  court-house;  and  there 
were  so  many  people  who  were  unable  to  attend  the 
address  that,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  sheriff,  I 
delivered  a  second  one  from  the  steps  of  the  court- 
house. 

The  largest  and  most  successful  meeting  of  the 
trip  was  held  at  Mound  Bayou,  a  town  founded  and 
controlled   entirely  by  Negroes.     This   town,   also, 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  197 

is  the  centre  of  a  Negro  colony  of  about  three  thou- 
sand people.  Negroes  own  thirty  thousand  acres 
of  land  in  direct  proximity  to  the  town.  Mound 
Bayou  is  in  the  centre  of  the  Delta  district,  where 
the  coloured  people  outnumber  the  whites  frequently 
as  much  as  ten  to  one;  and  there  are  a  number  of 
Negro  settlements  besides  Mound  Bayou  in  which 
no  white  man  lives.  My  audience  extended  out 
into  the  surrounding  fields  as  far  as  my  voice  could 
reach.  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  achieve- 
ments and  possibilities  of  this  town,  where  Negroes 
are  giving  a  striking  example  of  success  in  self- 
government  and  in  business. 

From  what  I  was  able  to  see  during  my  visit  to 
Mississippi,  and  from  what  I  have  been  able  to 
learn  from  other  sources,  I  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  more  has  been  accomplished  by  the  coloured 
people  of  that  state  during  the  last  ten  years  than 
was  accomplished  by  them  during  the  whole  pre- 
vious period  since  the  Civil  War.  To  a  large  extent 
this  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the  coloured  people 
have  learned  that  in  getting  land,  in  building  homes, 
and  in  saving  their  money  they  can  make  themselves 
a  force  in  the  communities  in  which  they  live.  It 
is  generally  supposed  that  the  coloured  man,  in 
his  efforts  to  rise,  meets  more  opposition  in  Missis- 
sippi than  anywhere  else  in  the  United  States,  but 


198  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

it  is  quite  as  true  that  there,  more  than  anywhere 
else,  the  coloured  people  seem  to  have  discovered 
that,  in  gaining  habits  of  thrift  and  industry,  in 
getting  property,  and  in  making  themselves  useful, 
there  is  a  door  of  hope  open  for  them  which  the 
South  has  no  disposition  to  close. 

As  an  illustration  of  what  I  mean,  I  may  say  that 
while  I  was  in  Holly  Springs  I  learned  that,  though 
the  whites  outnumbered  the  blacks  nearly  three 
to  one  in  Marshall  County,  there  had  been  but  one 
lynching  there  since  the  Civil  War.  When  I  in- 
quired of  both  white  people  and  coloured  people 
why  it  was  that  the  two  races  were  able  to  live  on 
such  friendly  terms,  both  gave  almost  exactly  the 
same  answer.  They  said  that  it  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  in  Marshall  County  so  large  a  number  of 
coloured  farmers  owned  their  farms.  Among  other 
things  that  have  doubtless  helped  to  bring  about 
this  result  is  the  fact  that  the  treasurer  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  of  Mississippi,  who  lived  in  Holly 
Springs,  frequently  had  as  much  as  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  on  deposit  in  the  local  banks. 

My  purpose  in  making  the  educational  campaigns 
to  which  I  have  referred  was  not  merely  to  see  the 
condition  of  the  masses  of  my  own  people,  but  to 
ascertain,  also,  the  actual  relations  existing  between 
the  races  and  to  say  a  word  if  possible  that  would 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  199 

bring  about  more  helpful  relations  between  white  men 
and  black  men  in  the  communities  which  I  visited. 

Again  and  again  in  the  course  of  these  journeys 
I  noticed  that,  almost  invariably,  as  soon  as  I  began 
to  inquire  of  some  coloured  school  teacher,  merchant, 
banker,  physician,  how  it  was  he  had  gotten  his 
start,  each  one  began  at  once  to  tell  me  of  some 
prominent  white  man  in  their  town  who  had  be- 
friended them.  This  man  had  advised  them  in  their 
business  transactions,  had,  perhaps,  loaned  them 
money,  or  had  pointed  out  to  them  where  they 
could  invest  their  savings  to  advantage,  and  in  this 
way  had  managed  to  get  ahead.  In  some  cases  the 
very  men  who  had  privately  befriended  these  indi- 
vidual coloured  men  were  persons  who  in  their  pub- 
lic life  had  the  reputation,  outside  of  the  community 
in  which  they  lived,  of  being  the  violent  oppo- 
nents and  enemies  of  the  Negro  race. 

These  experiences  have  been  repeated  so  often 
in  my  journeys  through  the  South  that  I  have 
learned  that  public  speeches  and  newspaper  reports 
are  a  very  poor  indication  of  the  actual  relations 
of  the  races.  Somehow  when  a  Southern  politician 
gets  upon  a  platform  to  make  a  public  speech  it 
comes  perfectly  natural  to  him  to  denounce  the 
Negro.  He  has  been  doing  it  so  long  that  it  is 
second    nature. 


200  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Now  one  of  the  advantages  of  the  educational 
campaigns  I  have  described  is  that  they  have  given 
an  opportunity  to  Southern  men  to  stand  up  in 
public  and  say  what  was  deep  down  in  their  hearts 
with  regard  to  the  Negro,  to  express  a  feeling 
toward  the  Negro  that  represents  another  and  higher 
side  of  Southern  character  and  one  which,  as  a  result 
of  sectional  feelings  and  political  controversies, 
has  been  too  long  hidden  from  the  world. 

After  returning  from  my  last  educational  trip 
through  North  Carolina  I  received  letters  from 
prominent  people  in  all  parts  of  the  state  express- 
ing their  approval  of  what  I  had  said  and  of  the  work 
that  my  visit  was  intended  to  accomplish.  These 
letters  came  from  business  men,  from  men  who  were 
or  had  been  in  public  life,  as  well  as  from  school 
superintendents.  For  example,  Charles  L.  Coon, 
superintendent  of  public  schools  at  Wilson,  N.  C, 
whose  paper  before  the  educational  conference  in 
Atlanta,  in  1909,  was  the  most  convincing  plea  for 
the  Negro  schools  I  have  ever  read,  wrote  as  follows: 

I  write  to  express  my  personal  appreciation  of  your  visit  and 
its  effects  here  in  Wilson.  You  had  a  good  audience  represent- 
ing all  classes  of  our  white  and  coloured  population.  Numbers 
of  the  best  white  people  in  town  have  told  me  that  your  address 
was  the  very  best  ever  made  here.  Many  of  them  say  you  must 
come  back.  Some  want  to  get  a  warehouse  so  that  everybody 
can  hear  you. 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  201 

The  Negro  school  here  is  stronger  in  the  affections  of  the 
coloured  people,  the  white  people  are  prouder  of  it,  than  before 
you  came.  I  was  delighted  that  we  had  a  school  building  in 
which  you  could  speak.  The  Negro  school  will  get  better  each 
year.  It  is  not  doing  nearly  all  it  ought  to  do,  but  we  are 
moving  forward.  There  will  be  slight  opposition  from  now  on. 
I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  that  white  people  will  believe 
in  and  stand  for  the  education  of  the  Negro  children,  if  the 
matter  is  put  to  them  in  the  right  shape.  Our  Negro  school 
has  more  coloured  than  white  opposition.  In  fact,  the  last 
white  man  in  town  who  counts  one  was  converted  by  you! 
I  rejoice  over  this  sinner's  making  his  peace  with  me. 

I  have  quoted  Superintendent  Coon's  letter 
because  it  represents  the  attitude  toward  Negro 
education  and  toward  the  Negro  of  an  increasing 
number  of  thoughtful  and  earnest  men  of  the 
younger  generation  in  the  South.  Perhaps  I  can 
give  no  better  idea  of  how  many  of  the  older  gener- 
ation of  the  Southerners  feel  toward  the  Negro 
than  by  quoting  the  words  of  Judge  Bond,  of 
Brownsville,  Tenn.,  in  the  course  of  a  few  remarks 
he  made  at  the  close  of  my  address  in  his  city. 

Judge  Bond  said,  according  to  a  short-hand  report 
taken  at  the  time  and  afterward  published  in  the 
Boston  Transcript: 

I  was  born  and  reared  here  in  the  South  and  have  been 
associated  all  my  life  with  Negroes.  I  feel  that  as  a  Southern 
white  man  I  owe  a  debt  to  the  Negro  that  I  can  never  pay,  that 
no  Southern  white  man  can  ever  pay.  During  the  war  the 
Southern  white  man  left  his  home,  his  wife,  and  his  children  to 


202  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

be  taken  care  of  by  the  Negroes,  and  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  a 
single  instance  where  that  trust  was  betrayed  or  where  they 
proved  unfaithful;  and  ever  since  that  time  I  have  sworn  by 
the  Most  Divine  that  I  shall  ever  be  grateful  to  the  coloured 
people  as  long  as  I  shall  live,  and  that  I  shall  never  be  unfaif 
to  that  race.  I  have  always  since  thought  that  a  white  man  is 
not  a  man  who  does  not  admit  that  he  owes  a  duty  in  the  sight 
of  God  to  the  coloured  people  of  this  country;  he  is  not  a  man  if 
he  is  not  willing  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances  to  do 
all  he  can  to  acquit  himself  of  that  duty.  If  there  was  ever  a 
people  in  this  country  who  owed  a  debt  to  any  people,  it  is  the 
Southern  white  man  to  the  Southern  coloured  man.  The 
white  man  who  lives  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ohio  River  owes 
him  a  debt,  too,  but,  by  my  honest  conviction  in  the  sight  of 
God,  his  obligation  is  nothing  compared  to  that  of  the  Southern 
white  man  to  the  coloured  people,  and  I  have  often  wondered 
what  will  be  the  judgment  on  the  Southern  white  man  and  his 
children  and  his  grandchildren  in  failing  to  discharge  his  duty 
toward  the  old  Negro,  his  children,  and  his  grandchildren  for 
their  many  years'  faithful  and  true  service. 

My  mother  died  at  my  birth.  Now  I  am  growing  old.  An 
old  black  mammy,  who,  thank  God,  is  living  to-day,  took  me  in 
her  arms  and  nursed  me  and  cared  for  me  and  loved  me  until 
I  grew  strong  and  to  manhood;  and  there  has  never  been  a  day 
since  that  she  has  not  been  willing  to  do  the  same  for  my  wife 
and  children,  even  in  spite  of  her  years. 

I  remember  some  time  ago  very  well,  when  I  was  sitting  in  a 
darkened  room  nursing  my  youngest  child,  who  was  confined 
with  the  dreaded  disease  small-pox,  my  wife  in  a  most  distressing 
manner  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  (we  had  been  separat- 
ed because  of  our  little  girl's  condition  and  we  were  kept  from 
the  rest  of  the  family  upstairs).  My  wife  called  down  to  me 
and  informed  me  that  she  feared  another  of  our  children  had 
fallen  victim  to  the  small-pox.     We  were  in  a  predicament,  you 


MY  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPAIGNS  203 

may  easily  see.  It  was  necessary  at  once  to  remove  the  child 
from  the  rest,  but  there  still  remained  a  doubt  as  to  her  being 
a  victim,  so  we  could  not  bring  her  into  the  room  in  which  we 
were  and  it  was  also  necessary  that  she  be  taken  out  of  the  room 
in  which  she  was.  She  must  be  kept  in  a  separate  room  and 
neither  was  it  safe  for  her  mother  or  myself  to  be  in  the  room  in 
which  she  would  be  taken.  She  must  remain  in  this  room  all 
night  without  care  or  attention  from  either,  but  just  about  that 
time  the  old  black  mammy,  this  same  black  mammy  who  nursed 
and  cared  for  me,  appeared.  Black  mammy  was  heard  from. 
"Small-pox  or  no  small-pox,  that  child  cannot  stay  in  that  room 
by  herself  to-night  or  no  other  night,  even  if  I  takes  the  small- 
pox and  dies  to-morrow";  and  she  did  go  into  that  room  and 
stayed  in  that  room  until  morning,  and  was  willing  to  stay  there 
as  long  as  it  was  necessary.     God  bless  her  old  soul! 

I  am  glad  to  see  Mr.  Washington  here  and  to  have  him  speak 
to  us.  He  is  a  credit  to  his  race,  and  would  be  a  credit  to  any 
race.  I  wish  we  had  many  more  men  like  him  all  over  this 
country. 

Mr.  Washington,  I  pray  to  God  that  the  Spirit  may  ever 
guide  you  in  your  purpose  to  lift  up  your  people  and  that  you 
may  inspire  all  Southern  white  men  as  well  as  Southern  coloured 
men  to  lift  up  and  elevate  your  race. 

These  expressions  of  interest  in  the  welfare  of  my 
race  and  of  hearty  sympathy  with  work  which  others 
and  myself  have  been  trying  to  do  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Negro  have  come  to  me  in  recent  years  from 
every  part  of  the  South.  Almost  from  the  be- 
ginning of  my  work  in  Alabama,  however,  I  have 
had  the  support  and  the  encouragement,  both  pub- 
lic and  private,  not  only  of  my  neighbours,  but  of 


2o4  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the  best  white  people  everywhere  in  the  South  who 
were  acquainted  with  what  I  was  trying  to  do. 
When  I  have  been  inclined  to  be  discouraged,  the 
expressions  of  good-will  have  given  me  faith.  They 
have  taught  me  —  in  spite  of  wrongs  and  injustices 
to  which  members  of  my  race  are  frequently  sub- 
jected —  to  look  with  confidence  to  the  future  and 
to  believe  that  the  Negro  has  the  power  within 
himself  to  become  an  indispensable  part  of  the  life 
of  the  South,  not  feared  and  merely  tolerated,  but 
trusted  and  respected  by  the  members  of  the  white 
race  by  whom  he  is  surrounded. 


CHAPTER  IX 

WHAT   I    HAVE    LEARNED    FROM    BLACK   MEN 

NO  SINGLE  question  is  more  often  asked  me 
than  this:  "Has   the  pure  blooded   black 
man  the  same  ability  or  the  same  worth 
as  those  of  mixed  blood?" 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  have  had  a  wide 
acquaintance  with  black  as  well  as  brown  and  even 
white  Negroes.  The  race  to  which  I  belong  per- 
mits me  to  meet  and  know  people  of  all  colours 
and  conditions.  There  is  no  race  or  people  who  have 
within  themselves  the  choice  of  so  large  a  variety 
of  colours  and  conditions  as  is  true  of  the  American 
Negro.  The  Japanese,  as  a  rule,  can  know  intimately 
human  nature  in  only  one  hue,  namely,  yellow.  The 
white  man,  as  a  rule,  does  not  get  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  any  other  than  white  men.  The  Negro, 
however,  has  a  chance  to  know  them  all,  because 
within  his  own  race  and  among  his  own  acquaint- 
ances he  has  friends,  perhaps  even  relatives,  of 
every  colour  in  which  mankind  has  been  painted. 


206  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Perhaps  I  can  answer  the  question  as  to  the  rela- 
tive value  of  the  pure  Negro  and  the  mixed  blood 
in  no  better  way  than  by  telling  what  I  know  con- 
cerning, and  what  I  have  learned  from,  some  four 
or  five  men  of  the  purest  blood  and  the  darkest 
skins  of  any  human  beings  I  happen  to  know  —  men 
to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  many  things,  but  most 
of  all  for  what  they  have  done  for  me  in  teaching 
me  to  value  all  men  at  their  real  worth  regardless 
of  race  or  colour. 

Among  those  black  men  whom  I  have  known,  the 
one  who  comes  first  to  my  mind  is  Charles  Banks, 
of  Mound  Bayou,  Miss.,  banker,  cotton  broker, 
planter,  real-estate  dealer,  head  of  a  hundred-thou- 
sand-dollar corporation  which  is  erecting  a  cotton- 
seed oil  mill,  the  first  ever  built  and  controlled  by 
Negro  enterprise  and  Negro  capital,  and,  finally, 
leading  citizen  of  the  little  Negro  town  of  Mound 
Bayou. 

I  first  met  Charles  Banks  in  Boston.  As  I  re- 
member, he  came  in  company  with  Hon.  Isaiah 
T.  Montgomery,  the  founder  of  Mound  Bayou, 
to  represent,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  National 
Negro  Business  League  in  1900,  the  first  and  at 
that  time  the  only  town  in  the  United  States 
founded,  inhabited,  and  governed  exclusively  by 
Negroes.       He  was  then,    as  he   is   to-day,    a  tali, 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  207 

big-bodied  man,  with  a  shiny  round  head,  quick,  snap- 
ping eyes,  and  a  surprisingly  swift  and  quiet  way  of 
reaching  out  and  getting  anything  he  happens  to 
want.  I  never  appreciated  what  a  big  man  Banks 
was  until  I  began  to  notice  the  swift  and  unerring 
way  in  which  he  reached  out  his  long  arm  to  pick 
up,  perhaps  a  pin,  or  to  get  hold  of  the  button- 
hole and  of  the  attention  of  an  acquaintance.  He 
seemed  to  be  able  to  reach  without  apparent  effort 
anything  he  wanted,  and  I  soon  found  there  was  a 
certain  fascination  in  watching  him  move. 

I  have  been  watching  Banks  reach  for  things  that 
he  wanted,  and  get  them,  ever  since  that  time.  I 
have  been  watching  him  do  things,  watching  him 
grow,  and  as  I  have  studied  him  more  closely  my 
admiration  for  this  big,  quiet,  graceful  giant  has 
steadily  increased.  One  thing  that  has  always 
impressed  itself  upon  me  in  regard  to  Mr.  Banks 
is  the  fact  that  he  never  claims  credit  for  doing  any- 
thing that  he  can  give  credit  to  other  people  for  do- 
ing. He  has  never  made  any  effort  to  make 
himself  prominent.  He  simply  prefers  to  get  a  job 
done  and,  if  he  can  use  other  people  and  give  them 
credit  for  doing  the  work,  he  is  happy  to  do  so. 

At  the  present  time  Charles  Banks  is  not,  by  any 
means,  the  wealthiest,  but  I  think  I  am  safe  in 
saying  that  he  is  the  most  influential,  Negro  business 


2o8  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

man  in  the  United  States.  He  is  the  leading  Negro 
banker  in  Mississippi,  where  there  are  eleven  Negro 
banks,  and  he  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
largest  benefit  association  in  that  state,  namely,  that 
attached  to  the  Masonic  order,  which  paid  death 
claims  in  1910  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and 
ninty-five  thousand  dollars  and  had  a  cash  balance 
of  eighty  thousand  dollars.  He  organized  and  has 
been  the  moving  spirit  in  the  state  organization 
of  the  Business  League  in  Mississippi  and  has  been 
for  a  number  of  years  the  vice-president  of  the 
National  Negro  Business  League. 

Charles  Banks  is,  however,  more  than  a  successful 
business  man.  He  is  a  leader  of  his  race  and  a 
broad-minded  and  public-spirited  citizen.  Although 
he  holds  no  public  office,  and,  so  far  as  I  know, 
has  no  desire  to  do  so,  there  are,  in  my  opinion, 
few  men,  either  white  or  black,  in  Mississippi  to-day 
who  are  performing,  directly  or  indirectly,  a  more 
important  service  to  their  state  than  Charles  Banks. 

Without  referring  to  the  influence  that  he  has 
been  able  to  exercise  in  other  directions,  I  want 
to  say  a  word  about  the  work  he  is  doing  at  Mound 
Bayou  for  the  Negro  people  of  the  Yazoo  Delta, 
where,  in  seventeen  counties,  the  blacks  represent 
from  seventy-five  to  ninety-four  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  population. 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  209 

As  I  look  at  it,  Mound  Bayou  is  not  merely  a 
town;  it  is  at  the  same  time  and  in  a  very  real  sense 
of  that  word,  a  school.  It  is  not  only  a  place  where 
a  Negro  may  get  inspiration,  by  seeing  what  other 
members  of  his  race  have  accomplished,  but  a 
place,  also,  where  he  has  an  opportunity  to  learn 
some  of  the  fundamental  duties  and  responsibilites 
of  social  and  civic  life. 

Negroes  have  here,  for  example,  an  opportunity, 
which  they  do  not  have  to  the  same  degree  else- 
where, either  in  the  North  or  in  the  South,  of  enter- 
ing simply  and  naturally  into  all  the  phases  and 
problems  of  community  life.  They  are  the  farmers, 
the  business  men,  bankers,  teachers,  preachers. 
The  mayor,  the  constable,  the  aldermen,  the  town 
marshal,  even  the  station  agent,  are  Negroes. 

Black  men  cleared  the  land,  built  the  houses, 
and  founded  the  town.  Year  by  year,  as  the 
colony  has  grown  in  population,  these  pioneers  have 
had  to  face,  one  after  another,  all  the  fundamental 
problems  of  civilization.  The  town  is  still  grow- 
ing, and  as  it  grows,  new  and  more  complicated 
problems  arise.  Perhaps  the  most  difficult  problem 
the  leaders  of  the  community  have  to  face  now  is 
that  of  founding  a  school,  or  a  system  of  schools, 
in  which  the  younger  generation  may  be  able  to 
get     some  of  the  kind  of  knowledge  which  these 


210  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

pioneers  gained  in  the  work  of  building  up  and 
establishing  the  community. 

During  the  twenty  years  this  town  has  been  in 
existence  it  has  always  had  the  sympathetic  support 
of  people  in  neighbouring  white  communities. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  men  who  have  been 
back  of  it  were  born  and  bred  in  the  Delta,  and  they 
know  both  the  land  and  the  people. 

Charles  Banks  was  born  and  raised  in  Clarksdale, 
a  few  miles  above  Mound  Bayou,  where  he  and  his 
brother  were  for  several  years  engaged  in  business. 
It  was  his  good  fortune,  as  has  been  the  case  with 
many  other  successful  Negroes,  to  come  under  the 
influence,  when  he  was  a  child,  of  one  of  the  best 
white  families  in  the  city  in  which  he  was  born.  I 
have  several  times  heard  Mr.  Banks  tell  of  his  early 
life  in  Clarksdale  and  of  the  warm  friends  he  had 
made  among  the  best  white  people  in  that  city. 

It  happened  that  his  mother  was  cook  for  a  prom- 
inent white  family  in  Clarksdale.  In  this  way  he 
became  in  a  sort  of  a  way  attached  to  the  family. 
It  was  through  the  influence  of  this  family,  if  I 
remember  rightly,  that  he  was  sent  to  Rust  Uni- 
versity, at  Holly  Springs,  to  get  his  education. 

In  1900  Mr.  Banks,  because  of  his  wide  knowledge 
of  local  conditions  in  that  part  of  the  country,  was 
appointed   supervisor  of  the   census  for  the  Third 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  211 

district  of  Mississippi.  In  speaking  to  me  of  this 
matter  Mr.  Banks  said  that  every  white  man  in 
town  endorsed  his  application  for    appointment. 

Since  he  has  been  in  Mound  Bayou,  Mr.  Banks 
has  greatly  widened  his  business  connections.  The 
Bank  of  Mound  Bayou  now  counts  among  its 
correspondents  banks  in  Vicksburg,  Memphis,  and 
Louisville,  together  with  the  National  Bank  of 
Commerce  of  St.  Louis  and  the  National  Reserve 
Bank  of  the  City  of  New  York.  One  of  the  officers 
of  the  former  institution,  Mr.  Eugene  Snowden, 
in  a  recent  letter  to  me,  referring  to  this  and  another 
Negro  bank,  writes:  "It  has  been  my  pleasure  to 
lend  them  $30,000  a  year  and  their  business  has  been 
handled  to  my  entire  satisfaction." 

Some  years  ago,  in  the  course  of  one  of  my  edu- 
cational campaigns,  I  visited  Mound  Bayou,  among 
other  places  in  Mississippi.  Among  other  persons 
I  met  the  sheriff  of  Bolivar  County,  in  which  Mound 
Bayou  is  situated.  Without  any  suggestion  or 
prompting  on  my  part,  he  told  me  that  Mound 
Bayou  was  one  of  the  most  orderly  —  in  fact,  I 
believe  he  said  the  most  orderly — town  in  the  Delta. 
A  few  years  ago  a  newspaper  man  from  Memphis 
visited  the  town  for  the  purpose  of  writing  an  article 
about  it.  What  he  saw  there  set  him  to  speculating, 
and  among  other  things  he  said : 


212  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Will  the  Negro  as  a  race  work  out  his  own  salvation  along 
Mound  Bayou  lines?  Who  knows?  These  have  worked  out 
for  themselves  a  better  local  government  than  any  superior 
people  has  ever  done  for  them  in  freedom.  But  it  is  a  generally 
accepted  principle  in  political  economy  that  any  homogeneous 
people  will  in  time  do  this.  These  people  have  their  local 
government,  but  it  is  in  consonance  with  the  county,  state, 
and  national  governments  and  international  conventions,  all  in 
the  hands  of  another  race.  Could  they  conduct  as  successfully 
a  county  government  in  addition  to  their  local  government  and 
still  under  the  state  and  national  governments  of  another  race? 
Enough  Negroes  of  the  Mound  Bayou  type,  and  guided  as  they 
were  in  the  beginning,  will  be  able  to  do  so. 

The  words  I  have  quoted  will,  perhaps,  illustrate 
the  sort  of  interest  and  sympathy  which  the  Mound 
Bayou  experiment  arouses  in  the  minds  of  thought- 
ful Southerners.  Now  it  is  characteristic  of  Charles 
Banks  that,  in  all  his  talks  with  me,  he  has  never 
once  referred  to  the  work  he  is  doing  as  a  solution 
of  the  problem  of  the  Negro  race.  He  has  often 
referred  to  it,  however,  as  one  step  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  the  Delta.  He  recognizes  that, 
behind  everything  else,  is  the  economic  problem. 

Aside  from  the  personal  and  business  interest 
which  he  has  in  the  growth  and  progress  of  Mound 
Bayou,  Mr.  Banks  sees  in  it  a  means  of  teaching 
better  methods  of  farming,  of  improving  the  home 
life,  of  getting  into  the  masses  of  the  people  greater 
sense  of  the  value  of  law  and  order. 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  213 

I  have  learned  much  from  studying  the  success 
of  Charles  Banks.  Before  all  else  he  has  taught  me 
the  value  of  common-sense  in  dealing  with  conditions 
as  they  exist  in  the  South.  I  have  learned  from  him 
that,  in  spite  of  what  the  Southern  white  man  may 
say  about  the  Negro  in  moments  of  excitement, 
the  sober  sentiment  of  the  South  is  in  sympathy 
with  every  effort  that  promises  solid  and  substantial 
progress  to  the  Negro. 

Maj.  R.  R.  Moton,  of  Hampton  Institute,  is 
one  of  the  few  black  men  I  know  who  can  trace 
his  ancestry  in  an  unbroken  line  on  both  sides  back 
to  Africa.  I  have  often  heard  him  tell  the  story, 
as  he  had  it  from  his  grandmother,  of  the  way  in 
which  his  great-grandfather,  who  was  a  young  Afri- 
can chief,  had  come  down  to  the  coast  to  sell  some 
captives  taken  in  war  and  how,  after  the  bargain 
was  completed,  he  was  enticed  on  board  the  white 
man's  ship  and  himself  carried  away  and  sold,  along 
with  these  unfortunate  captives,  into  slavery  in 
America.  Major  Moton  is,  like  Charles  Banks,  not 
only  a  full-blooded  black  man,  with  a  big  body  and 
broad  Negro  features,  but  he  is,  in  his  own  way,  a 
remarkably  handsome  man.  I  do  not  think  any  one 
could  look  in  Major  Moton's  face  without  liking  him. 
In  the  first  place,  he  looks  straight  at  you,  out  of  big 
friendly  eyes,  and  as  he  speaks  to  you  an  expression 


214  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

of  alert  and  intelligent  sympathy  constantly  flashes 
and  plays  across  his  kindly  features. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  come  into  contact 
with  many  different  types  of  people,  but  I  know  few 
men  who  are  so  lovable  and,  at  the  same  time,  so 
sensible  in  their  nature  as  Major  Moton.  He  is 
chock-full  of  common-sense.  Further  than  that,  he 
is  a  man  who,  without  obtruding  himself  and  with- 
out your  understanding  how  he  does  it,  makes  you 
believe  in  him  from  the  very  first  time  you  see  him 
and  from  your  first  contact  with  him,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  makes  you  love  him.  He  is  the  kind  of 
man  in  whose  company  I  always  feel  like  being, 
never  tire  of,  always  want  to  be  around  him,  or 
always  want  to  be  near  him. 

One  of  the  continual  sources  of  surprise  to  people 
who  come  for  the  first  time  into  the  Southern  States 
is  to  hear  of  the  affection  with  which  white  men 
and  women  speak  of  the  older  generation  of  coloured 
people  with  whom  they  grew  up,  particularly  the 
old  coloured  nurses.  The  lifelong  friendships  that 
exist  between  these  old  "aunties"  and  "uncles" 
and  the  white  children  with  whom  they  were  raised 
is  something  that  is  hard  for  strangers  to  under- 
stand. 

It  is  just  these  qualities  of  human  sympathy  and 
affection  that  endeared  so  many  of  the  older  gener- 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  215 

ation  of  Negroes  to  their  masters  and  mistresses 
and  which  seems  to  have  found  expression,  in  a 
higher  form,  in  Major  Moton.  Although  he  has 
little  schooling  outside  of  what  he  was  able  to  get 
at  Hampton  Institute,  Major  Moton  is  one  of  the 
best-read  men  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  men 
to  talk  with  I  have  ever  met.  Education  has  not 
"spoiled"  him,  as  it  seems  to  have  done  in  the  case 
of  some  other  educated  Negroes.  It  has  not  em- 
bittered or  narrowed  him  in  his  affections.  He  has 
not  learned  to  hate  or  distrust  any  class  of  people, 
and  he  is  just  as  ready  to  assist  and  show  a  kindness 
to  a  white  man  as  to  a  black  man,  to  a  Southerner 
as  to  a  Northerner. 

My  acquaintance  with  Major  Moton  began,  as 
I  remember,  after  he  had  graduated  at  Hampton 
Institute  and  while  he  was  employed  there  as  a 
teacher.  He  had  at  that  time  the  position  that  I 
once  occupied  in  charge  of  the  Indian  students. 
Later  he  was  given  the  very  responsible  position  he 
now  occupies,  at  the  head  of  the  institute  battalion, 
as  commandant  of  cadets,  in  which  he  has  charge 
of  the  discipline  of  all  the  students.  In  this  position 
he  has  an  opportunity  to  exert  a  very  direct  and 
personal  influence  upon  the  members  of  the  student 
body  and,  what  is  especially  important,  to  prepare 
them   to   meet  the  peculiar  difficulties   that  await 


,2i6  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

them  when  they  go  out  in  the  world  to  begin  life 
for  themselves. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  very  fortunate  that 
Hampton  Institute  should  have  had  in  the  position 
which  Major  Moton  occupies  a  man  of  such  kindly 
good  humour,  thorough  self-control,  and  sympathetic 
disposition. 

Major  Moton  knows  by  intuition  Northern  white 
people  and  Southern  white  people.  I  have  often 
heard  the  remark  made  that  the  Southern  white 
man  knows  more  about  the  Negro  in  the  South  than 
anybody  else.  I  will  not  stop  here;  to  debate  that 
question,  but  I  will  add  that  coloured  men  like 
Major  Moton  know  more  about  the  Southern  white 
man  than  anybody  else  on  earth. 

At  the  Hampton  Institute,  for  example,  they  have 
white  teachers  and  coloured  teachers;  they  have 
Southern  white  people  and  Northern  white  people; 
besides,  they  have  coloured  students  and  Indian 
students.  Major  Moton  knows  how  to  keep  his 
hands  on  all  of  these  different  elements,  to  see  to 
it  that  friction  is  kept  down  and  that  each  works  in 
harmony  with  the  other.  It  is  a  difficult  job,  but 
Major  Moton  knows  how  to  negotiate  it. 

This  thorough  understanding  of  both  races  which 
Major  Moton  possesses  has  enabled  him  to  give 
his  students  just  the  sort  of  practical  and  helpful 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  217 

advice  and  counsel  that  no  white  man  who  has  not 
himself  faced  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  Negro 
could  be  able  to  give. 

I  think  it  would  do  any  one  good  to  attend  one  of 
Major  Moton's  Sunday-school  classes  when  he  is 
explaining  to  his  students,  in  the  very  practical  way 
which  he  knows  how  to  use,  the  mistake  of  students 
allowing  themselves  to  be  embittered  by  injustice 
or  degraded  by  calumny  and  abuse  with  which  every 
coloured  man  must  expect  to  meet  at  one  time  or 
another.  Very  likely  he  will  follow  up  what  he 
has  to  say  on  this  subject  by  some  very  apt  illus- 
tration from  his  own  experience  or  from  that  of 
some  of  his  acquaintances  which  will  show  how 
much  easier  and  simpler  it  is  to  meet  prejudice 
with  sympathy  and  understanding  than  with  hatred; 
to  remember  that  the  man  who  abuses  you  because 
of  your  race  probably  hasn't  the  slightest  knowledge 
of  you  personally,  and,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  if 
you  simply  refuse  to  feel  injured  by  what  he  says, 
will  feel  ashamed  of  himself  later. 

I  think  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  a 
Negro  has  to  meet  is  in  travelling  about  the  country 
on  the  railway  trains.  For  example,  it  is  frequently 
difficult  for  a  coloured  man  to  get  anything  to  eat 
while  he  is  travelling  in  the  South,  because,  on  the 
train  and   at  the  lunch    counters  along  the  route, 


2i8  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

there  is  often  no  provision  for  coloured  people.  If 
a  coloured  man  goes  to  the  lunch  counter  where 
the  white  people  are  served  he  is  very  likely,  no 
matter  who  he  may  be,  to  find  himself  roughly 
ordered  to  go  around  to  the  kitchen,  and  even  there 
no  provision  has  been  made  for  him. 

Time  and  again  I  have  seen  Major  Moton  meet 
this  situation,  and  others  like  it,  by  going  up  directly 
to  the  man  in  charge  and  telling  him  what  he  wanted. 
More  than  likely  the  first  thing  he  received  was  a 
volley  of  abuse.  That  never  discouraged  Major 
Moton.  He  would  not  allow  himself  to  be  disturbed 
nor  dismissed,  but  simply  insisted,  politely  and  good- 
naturedly,  that  he  knew  the  custom,  but  that  he 
was  hungry  and  wanted  something  to  eat.  Some- 
how, without  any  loss  of  dignity,  he  not  only  in- 
variably got  what  he  wanted,  but  after  making  the 
man  he  was  dealing  with  ashamed  of  himself,  he 
usually  made  him  his  friend  and  left  him  with  a 
higher  opinion  of  the  Negro  race  as  a  whole. 

I  have  seen  Major  Moton  in  a  good  many  trying 
situations  in  which  an  ordinary  man  would  have 
lost  his  head,  but  I  have  never  seen  him  when  he 
seemed  to  feel  the  least  degraded  or  humiliated. 
I  have  learned  from  Major  Moton  that  one  need 
not  belong  to  a  superior  race  to  be  a  gentleman. 

It  has  been  through  contact  with  men  like  Major 


RUFUS   HERRON 
01    CAMP    HILL,   ALA. 

'*  It  there  is  a  white  man,  North  or 
South,  that  has  more  love  for  his 
community  or  his  country  than 
Rulus  Herron.  it  lias  not  been  my 
gi  ii  id  lurtiiue  to   meet   him  " 


MAJOR  ROBERT  RUSSA  MOTON 
"It  has  been  through  contact  with 
men  like  Major  Moton  that  I  have 
received  a  kind  of  education  no 
books  could  impart  " 


PROFESSOR  GEORGE  WASHING 

TON   CARVER 
"One  of  the    most  thoroughly    scien 
tine  men  of  the  Xegro  race"' 


BISHOP  GEORGE  \Y.   CLINTON 

"He   i;.    the    kind  of   man    who   wins 
everywhere  confidence  and   respect" 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  219 

Moton  —  clean,  wholesome,  high-souled  gentlemen 
under  black  skins  —  that  I  have  received  a  kind  of 
education  no  books  could  impart.  Whatever  dis- 
advantages one  may  suffer  from  being  a  part  of 
what  is  called  an  "inferior  race,"  a  member  of  such 
a  race  has  the  advantage  of  not  feeling  compelled 
to  go  through  the  world,  as  some  members  of  other 
races  do,  proclaiming  their  superiority  from  the 
house  tops.  There  are  some  people  in  this  world 
who  would  feel  lonesome,  and  they  are  not  all  of 
them  white  people  either,  if  they  did  not  have  some 
one  to  whom  they  could  claim  superiority. 

One  of  the  most  distinguised  black  men  of  my 
race  is  George  W.  Clinton,  of  Charlotte,  N.  C,  bishop 
of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church.  ,  Bishop  Clinton  was 
born  a  slave  fifty  years  ago  in  South  Carolina.  He 
was  one  of  the  few  young  coloured  men  who,  during 
the  Reconstruction  days,  had  an  opportunity  to 
attend  the  University  of  South  Carolina.  He  prides 
himself  on  the  fact  that  he  was  a  member  of  that 
famous  class  of  1874  which  furnished  one  Negro 
congressman,  two  United  States  ministers  to  Liberia 
—  the  most  recent  of  whom  is  Dr.  W.  D.  Crum  — 
five  doctors,  seven  preachers,  and  several  business 
men  who  have  made  good  in  after  life.  Among 
others  was  W.  McKinlay,  the  present  collector  of 
customs  for  the  port  of  Georgetown,  D.  C. 


220  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Bishop  Clinton  has  done  a  great  service  to  the 
denomination  to  which  he  belongs  and  his  years  of 
service  have  brought  him  many  honours  and  dis- 
tinctions. He  founded  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Quarterly  Review  and  edited,  for  a  time, 
another  publication  of  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  denomination.  He  has  represented  his 
church  in  ecumenical  conferences  at  home  and 
abroad,  is  a  trustee  of  Livingstone  College,  chairman 
of  the  publishing  board,  has  served  as  a  member  of 
the  international  convention  of  arbitration  and  is 
vice-president  of  the  international  Sunday-school 
union. 

Bishop  Clinton  is  a  man  of  a  very  different  type 
from  the  other  men  of  pure  African  blood  I  have 
mentioned.  Although  he  says  he  is  fifty  years  of 
age,  he  is  in  appearance  and  manner  the  youngest 
man  in  the  group.  An  erect,  commanding  figure, 
with  a  high,  broad  forehead,  rather  refined  features 
and  fresh,  frank,  almost  boyish  manner,  he  is  the 
kind  of  man  who  everywhere  wins  confidence  and 
respect. 

Although  Bishop  Clinton  is  by  profession  a  min- 
ister, and  has  been  all  his  life  in  the  service  of  the 
Church,  he  is  of  all  the  men  I  have  named  the 
most  aggressive  in  his  manner  and  the  most  soldierly 
in  his  bearing. 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  221 

Knowing  that  his  profession  compelled  him  to 
travel  about  a  great  deal  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
I  asked  him  how  a  man  of  his  temperament  managed 
to  get  about  without  getting  into  trouble. 

"I  have  had  some  trouble  but  not  much,"  he 
said,  "and  I  have  learned  that  the  easiest  way  to 
get  along  everywhere  is  to  be  a  gentleman.  It  is 
simple,  convenient,  and  practicable. 

"The  only  time  I  ever  came  near  having  any 
serious  trouble,"  continued  Bishop  Clinton,  "was 
years  ago  when  I  was  in  politics."  And  then  he 
went  on  to  relate  the  following  incident:  It  seems 
that  at  this  time  the  Negroes  at  the  bishop's  home 
in  Lancaster,  S.  C,  were  still  active  in  politics.  There 
was  an  attempt  at  one  time  to  get  some  of  the  better 
class  of  Negroes  to  unite  with  some  of  the  Democrats 
in  order  to  elect  a  prohibition  ticket.  The  fusion 
ticket,  with  two  Negroes  and  four  white  men  as 
candidates,  was  put  in  the  field  and  elected.  It 
turned  out,  however,  that  a  good  many  white  peo- 
ple cut  the  Negroes  on  the  ticket  and,  at  the  same 
time,  a  good  many  Negroes  cut  the  whites,  so  that 
there  was  some  bad  blood  on  both  sides.  A  man 
who  was  the  editor  of  the  local  paper  at  that  time 
had  accused  young  Clinton  of  having  advised  the 
Negroes  to  cut  the  fusion  ticket. 

"As  I  knew  him  well,"  said  the  bishop,  "I  went 


222  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

up  to  his  office  to  explain.  Some  rather  foolish 
remark  I  made  irritated  the  editor  and  he  jumped 
up  and  came  toward  me  with  a  knife  in  his  hands." 

The  bishop  added  that  he  didn't  think  the  man 
really  meant  anything  "because  my  mother  used 
to  cook  in  his  family"  and  they  had  known  each 
other  since  they  were  boys,  so  he  simply  took  hold 
of  his  wrists  and  held  them.  The  bishop  is  a  big, 
stalwart,  athletic  man  with  hands  that  grip  like  a 
vise.  He  talked  very  quietly  and  they  settled  the 
matter  between  them. 

Bishop  Clinton  has  told  me  that  he  has  made 
many  lifelong  friends  among  the  white  people  of 
South  Carolina,  but  this  was  the  only  time  that 
he  ever  had  anything  like  serious  trouble  with  a 
white  man. 

I  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bishop  Clinton 
when  he  came  to  Tuskegee  in  1893  as  representative 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
at  the  dedication  of  the  Phelps  Hall  Bible  training 
school.  The  next  year  he  came  to  Tuskegee  as  one 
of  the  lecturers  in  that  school  and  he  has  spent  some 
time  at  Tuskegee  every  year  since  then,  assisting  in 
the  work  of  that  institution. 

Bishop  Clinton  has  been  of  great  assistance  to  us, 
not  only  in  our  work  at  Tuskegee,  but  in  the  larger 
work  we  have  been  trying  to  do  in  arousing  interest 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  223 

throughout  the  country  in  Negro  public  schools. 
He  organized  and  conducted  through  North  Carolina 
in  1910  what  I  think  was  the  most  successful  edu- 
cational campaign  I  have  yet  been  able  to  make  in 
any  of  the  Southern  States. 

Although  he  is  an  aggressive  churchman,  Bishop 
Clinton  has  found  time  to  interest  himself  in  every- 
thing that  concerns  the  welfare  of  the  Negro  race. 
He  is  as  interested  in  the  business  and  economic  as 
he  is  in  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the  race. 

One  of  the  most  gifted  men  of  the  Negro  race 
whom  I  ever  happened  to  meet  is  George  W.  Carver, 
Professor  Carver,  as  he  is  called  at  Tuskegee,  where 
he  has  for  many  years  been  connected  with  the 
scientific  and  experimental  work  in  agriculture 
carried  on  in  connection  with  the  Tuskegee  Insti- 
tute. I  first  met  Mr.  Carver  about  1895  or  1896 
when  he  was  a  student  at  the  State  Agricultural 
College  at  Ames,  la.  I  had  heard  of  him  before 
that  time  through  Hon.  James  Wilson,  now  secretary 
of  agriculture,  who  was  for  some  time  one  of  Mr. 
Carver's  teachers.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
an  attempt  was  made  to  put  our  work  in  agriculture 
on  a  scientific  basis,  and  Mr.  Carver  was  induced 
to  come  to  Tuskegee  to  take  charge  of  that  work 
and  of  the  state  experiment  station  that  had  been 
established    in   connection   with    it.     He    has   been 


224  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

doing  valuable  work  in  that  department  ever  since 
and,  as  a  result  of  his  work  in  breeding  cotton  and 
of  the  bulletins  he  has  prepared  on  experiments  in 
building  up  wornout  soils,  he  has  become  widely 
known  to  both  coloured  and  white  farmers  through- 
out the  South. 

When  some  years  ago  the  state  secretary  of 
agriculture  called  a  meeting  at  Montgomery  of 
the  leading  teachers  of  the  state,  Professor  Carver 
was  the  only  coloured  man  invited  to  that  meeting. 
He  was  at  that  time  invited  to  deliver  an  address 
to  the  convention  and  for  an  hour  was  questioned 
on  the  interesting  work  he  was  doing  at  the  experi- 
ment station. 

Professor  Carver,  like  the  other  men  I  have  men- 
tioned, is  of  unmixed  African  blood,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  thoroughly  scientific  men  of  the  Negro  race 
with  whom  I  am  acquainted.  Whenever  any  one 
who  takes  a  scientific  interest  in  cotton  growing,  or 
in  the  natural  history  of  this  part  of  the  world, 
comes  to  visit  Tuskegee,  he  invariably  seeks  out 
and  consults  Professor  Carver.  A  few  years  ago 
the  colonial  secretary  of  the  German  empire,  accom- 
panied by  one  of  the  cotton  experts  of  his  depart- 
ment, travelling  through  the  South  in  a  private 
car,  paid  a  visit  of  several  days  to  Tuskegee  largely 
to  study,  in  connection  with  the  other  work  of  the 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  225 

school,   the    cotton-growing   experiments  that  Pro- 
fessor Carver  has  been  carrying  on  for  some  years. 

In  his  book,  "The  Negro  in  the  New  World," 
Sir  Harry  Johnston,  who  has  himself  been  much 
interested  in  the  study  of  plant  life  in  different  parts 
of  the  world,  says:  "Professor  Carver,  who  teaches 
scientific  agriculture,  botany,  agricultural  chemistry, 
etc.,  at  Tuskegee,  is,  as  regards  complexion  and 
features,  an  absolute  Negro;  but  in  the  cut  of  his 
clothes,  the  accent  of  his  speech,  the  soundness  of 
his  science,  he  might  be  professor  of  botany,  not 
at  Tuskegee,  but  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  Any 
European  botanist  of  distinction,  after  ten  minutes' 
conversation  with  this  man,  instinctively  would 
treat  him  as  a  man  on  a  level  with  himself. " 

What  makes  all  that  Professor  Carver  has  ac- 
complished the  more  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  he 
was  born  in  slavery  and  has  had  relatively  few 
opportunities  for  study,  compared  with  those  which 
a  white  man  who  makes  himself  a  scholar  in  any 
particular  branch  of  science  invariably  has. 

Professor  Carver  knows  but  little  of  his  parentage. 
He  was  born  on  the  plantation  of  a  Mr.  Carver  in 
Missouri  some  time  during  the  war. 

It  was  a  time  when  it  was  becoming  very  uncom- 
fortable to  hold  slaves  in  Missouri  and  so  he  and  his 
mother  were  sent  south  into  Arkansas.     After  the 


226  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

war  Mr.  Carver,  the  master,  sent  south  to  inquire 
what  had  become  of  his  former  slaves.  He  learned 
that  they  had  all  disappeared  with  the  exception 
of  a  child,  two  or  three  years  old,  by  the  name  of 
George,  who  was  near  dead  with  the  whooping- 
cough  and  of  so  little  value  that  the  people  in  Arkan- 
sas said  they  would  be  very  glad  to  get  rid  of  him. 

George  was  brought  home,  but  he  proved  to  be 
such  a  weak  and  sickly  little  creature  that  no  at- 
tempt was  made  to  put  him  to  work  and  he  was 
allowed  to  grow  up  among  chickens  and  other  ani- 
mals around  the  servants'  quarters,  getting  his  living 
as  best  he  could. 

The  little  black  boy  lived,  however,  and  he  used 
his  freedom  to  wander  about  in  the  woods,  where 
he  soon  got  on  very  good  terms  with  all  the  insects 
and  animals  in  the  forest  and  gained  an  intimate 
and,  I  might  almost  say  personal,  acquaintance  with 
all  the  plants  and  the  flowers. 

As  he  grew  older  he  began  to  show  unusual  apti- 
tude in  two  directions:  He  attracted  attention, 
in  the  first  place,  by  his  peculiar  knack  and  skill 
in  all  sorts  of  household  work.  He  learned  to  cook, 
to  knit  and  crochet,  and  he  had  a  peculiar  and  deli- 
cate sense  for  colour.  He  learned  to  draw  and,  at 
the  present  time,  he  devotes  a  large  part  of  his 
leisure  to  making  the  most  beautiful  and  accurate 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  227 

drawings  of  different  flowers  and  forms  of  plant  life 
in  which  he  is  interested. 

In  the  second  place,  he  showed  a  remarkable 
natural  aptitude  and  intelligence  in  dealing  with 
plants,  lie  would  spend  hours,  for  example,  gath- 
ering all  the  most  rare  and  curious  flowers  that  were 
to  be  found  in  the  woods  and  fields.  One  day  some 
one  discovered  that  he  had  established  out  in  the 
brush  a  little  botanical  garden,  where  he  had  gath- 
ered all  sorts  of  curious  plants  and  where  he  soon 
became  so  expert  in  making  all  sorts  of  things  grow, 
and  showed  such  skill  in  caring  for  and  protecting 
plants  from  all  sorts  of  insects  and  diseases  that  he 
got  the  name  of  "the  plant  doctor." 

Another  direction  in  which  he  showed  unusual 
natural  talent  was  in  music.  While  he  was  still 
a  child  he  became  famous  among  the  coloured 
people  as  a  singer.  After  he  was  old  enough  to 
take  care  of  himself  he  spent  some  years  wandering 
about.  When  he  got  the  opportunity  he  worked 
in  greenhouses.  At  one  time  he  ran  a  laundry; 
at  another  time  he  worked  as  a  cook  in  a  hotel.  His 
natural  taste  and  talent  for  music  and  painting, 
and,  in  fact,  almost  every  form  of  art,  finally  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  friends,  through  whom  he 
secured  a  position  as  church  organist. 

During  all  this  time  young  Carver  was   learning 


228  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

wherever  he  was  able.  He  learned  from  books  when 
he  could  get  them;  learned  from  experience  always; 
and  made  friends  wherever  he  went.  At  last  he  found 
an  opportunity  to  take  charge  of  the  greenhouses  of 
the  horticultural  department  of  the  Iowa  Agricultu- 
ral College  at  Ames.  He  remained  there  until  he  was 
graduated,  when  he  was  made  assistant  botanist.  He 
took  advantage  of  his  opportunities  there  to  continue 
his  studies  and  finally  took  a  diploma  as  a  post- 
graduate student,  the  first  diploma  of  that  sort  that 
had  been  given  at  Ames. 

While  he  was  at  the  agricultural  college  in  Iowa 
he  took  part  with  the  rest  of  the  students  in  all  the 
activities  of  college  life.  He  was  lieutenant,  for 
example,  in  the  college  battalion  which  escorted 
Governor  Boies  to  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago. 
He  began  to  read  papers  and  deliver  lectures  at  the 
horticultural  conventions  in  all  parts  of  the  state. 
But,  in  spite  of  his  success  in  the  North,  among 
the  people  of  another  race,  Mr.  Carver  was  anxious 
to  come  South  and  do  something  for  his  own  race. 
So  it  was  that  he  gladly  accepted  an  invitation  to 
come  to  Tuskegee  and  take  charge  of  the  scientific 
and  experimental  work  connected  with  our  depart- 
ment of  agriculture. 

Although  Professor  Carver  impresses  every  one 
who  meets  him  with  the  extent  of  his  knowledge 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  229 

in  the  matter  of  plant  life,  he  is  quite  the  most 
modest  man  I  have  ever  met.  In  fact,  he  is  almost 
timid.  He  dresses  in  the  plainest  and  simplest 
mariner  possible;  the  only  thing  that  he  allows  in 
the  way  of  decoration  is  a  flower  in  his  button-hole. 
It  is  a  rare  thing  to  see  Professor  Carver  any  time 
during  the  year  without  some  sort  of  flower  on  the 
lapel  of  his  coat  and  he  is  particularly  proud  when 
he  has  found  somewhere  in  the  woods  some  especially 
rare  specimen  of  a  flower  to  show  to  his  friends. 

I  asked  Professor  Carver  at  one  time  how  it  was, 
since  he  was  so  timid,  that  he  managed  to  have 
made  the  acquaintance  of  so  many  of  the  best  white 
as  well  as  coloured  people  in  our  part  of  the  country. 
He  said  that  as  soon  as  people  found  out  that  he 
knew  something  about  plants  that  was  valuable  he 
discovered  they  were  very  willing  and  eager  to  talk 
with  him. 

"But  you  must  have  some  way  of  advertising," 
I  said  jestingly;  "how  do  all  these  people  find  out 
that  you  know  about  plants?" 

"Well,  it  is  this  way,"  he  said.  "Shortly  after 
I  came  here  I  was  going  along  the  woods  one  day 
with  my  botany  can  under  my  arm.  I  was  looking 
for  plant  diseases  and  for  insect  enemies.  A  lady 
saw  what  she  probably  thought  was  a  harmless  old 
coloured  man,  with  a  strange  looking  box  under  his 


23o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

arm,  and  she  stopped  me  and  asked  if  I  was  a  peddler. 
I  told  her  what  I  was  doing.  She  seemed  delighted 
and  asked  me  to  come  and  see  her  roses,  which 
were  badly  diseased.  I  showed  her  just  what  to 
do  for  them  —  in  fact,  sat  down  and  wrote  it  out 
for  her. 

"In  this,"  he  continued,  "and  several  other  ways 
it  became  noised  abroad  that  there  was  a  man  at 
the  school  who  knew  about  plants.  People  began 
calling  upon  me  for  information  and  advice." 

I  myself  recall  that  several  years  ago  a  dispute 
arose  down  town  about  the  name  of  a  plant.  No 
one  knew  what  it  was.  Finally  one  gentleman  spoke 
up  and  said  that  they  had  a  man  out  at  the  normal 
school  by  the  name  of  Carver  who  could  name  any 
plant,  tree,  bird,  stone,  etc.,  in  the  world,  and  if  he 
did  not  know  there  was  no  use  to  look  farther.  A 
man  was  put  on  a  horse  and  the  plant  brought  to 
Professor  Carver  at  the  Institute.  He  named  it 
and  sent  him  back.  Since  then  Professor  Carver's 
laboratory  has  never  been  free  from  specimens  of 
some  kind. 

I  have  always  said  that  the  best  means  which  the 
Negro  has  for  destroying  race  prejudice  is  to  make 
himself  a  useful  and,  if  possible,  an  indispensable 
member  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  Every 
man  and  every  community  is  bound  to  respect  the 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  231 

man  or  woman  who  has  some  form  of  superior  knowl- 
edge or  ability,  no  matter  in  what  direction  it  is.  I 
do  not  know  of  a  better  illustration  of  this  than 
may  be  found  in  the  case  of  Professor  Carver. 
Without  any  disposition  to  push  himself  forward 
into  any  position  in  which  he  is  not  wanted,  he  has 
been  able,  because  of  his  special  knowledge  and 
ability,  to  make  friends  with  all  classes  of  people, 
white  as  well  as  black,  throughout  the  South.  He  is 
constantly  receiving  inquiries  in  regard  to  his 
work  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  his  experi- 
ments in  breeding  new  varieties  of  cotton  have 
aroused  the  greatest  interest  among  those  cotton 
planters  who  are  interested  in  the  scientific  in- 
vestigation of  cotton  growing. 

There  are  few  coloured  men  in  the  South  to- 
day who  are  better  or  more  widely  known  than 
Dr.  Charles  T.  Walker,  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle 
Baptist  Church  of  Augusta,  Ga.  President  William 
H.  Taft,  referring  to  Doctor  Walker,  said  that  he 
was  the  most  eloquent  man  he  had  ever  listened  to. 
For  myself  I  do  not  know  of  any  man,  white  or 
black,  who  is  a  more  fascinating  speaker  either  in 
private   conversation   or  on   the   public   platform. 

Doctor  Walker's  speeches,  like  his  conversation, 
have  the  charm  of  a  natural-born  talker,  a  man  who 
loves  men,  and  has  the  art  of  expressing  himself 


232  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

simply,  easily,  and  fluently,  in  a  way  to  interest 
and  touch  them. 

On  the  streets  of  Augusta,  his  home,  it  is  no 
uncommon  thing  to  see  Doctor  Walker  —  after  the 
familiar  and  easy  manner  of  Southern  people  — 
stand  for  hours  on  a  street  corner  or  in  front  of  a 
grocery  store,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  who  have 
gathered  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  hear  what 
he  will  say.  It  is  said  that  he  knows  more  than 
half  of  the  fifteen  thousand  coloured  people  of 
Augusta  by  name,  and  when  he  meets  any  of  them 
in  the  street  he  is  disposed  to  stop,  in  his  friendly 
and  familiar  way,  in  order  to  inquire  about  the 
other  members  of  the  family.  He  wants  to  know 
how  each  is  getting  on  and  what  has  happened  to 
any  one  of  them  since  he  saw  them  last. 

If  one  of  these  acquaintances  succeeds  in  detain- 
ing him,  he  will,  very  likely,  find  himself  surrounded 
by  other  friends  and  acquaintances  and,  when  once 
he  is  fairly  launched  on  one  of  the  quaintly  humor- 
ous accounts  of  his  adventures  in  some  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  world  he  has  visited,  or  is  dis- 
cussing, in  his  vivid  and  epigrammatic  way,  some 
public  question,  business  in  that  part  of  the  town 
stops  for  a  time. 

Doctor  Walker  is  a  great  story  teller.  He  has 
a  great  fund  of  anecdotes  and  a  wonderful  art  in 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  233 

using  them  to  emphasize  a  point  in  argument  or  to 
enforce  a  remark.  I  recall  that  the  last  time  he  was  at 
Tuskegee,  attending  the  Negro  conference,  he  told  us 
what  he  was  trying  to  do  at  the  school  established 
by  the  Walker  Baptist  Association  at  Augusta  for 
the  farmers  in  his  neighbourhood.  From  that  he 
launched  off  into  some  remarks  upon  the  coloured 
farmer,  his  opportunities,  and  his  progress.  He 
said  Senator  Tillman  had  once  complained  that 
the  coloured  farmer  wasn't  as  ignorant  as  he  pre- 
tended to  be,  and  then  he  told  this  story:  He  said 
that  an  old  coloured  farmer  in  his  part  of  the  country 
had  rented  some  land  of  a  white  man  on  what  is 
popularly  known  as  "fourths."  By  the  term  of 
the  contract  the  white  man  was  to  get  one  fourth 
of  the  crop  for  the  use  of  the  land. 

When  it  came  time  to  divide  the  crop,  however,  it 
turned  out  that  there  were  just  three  wagon  loads  of 
cotton  and  this  the  old  farmer  hauled  to  his  own  barn. 

Of  course  the  landlord  protested.  He  said: 
"Look  here,  Uncle  Joe,  didn't  you  promise  me  a 
fourth  of  that  cotton  for  my  share?' 

"Yes,  cap'n,"  was  the  reply,  "Dat's  so.  I'se 
mighty  sorry,  but  dere  wasn't  no  fort'." 

"How  is  that?"  inquired  the  landlord. 

"There  wasn't  no  fort'  'cause  dere  was  just 
three  wagon  loads,  and  dere  wasn't  no  fort'  dere." 


234  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Doctor  Walker  is  not  only  a  fascinating  conver- 
sationalist, a  warm-hearted  friend,  but  he  is,  also, 
a  wonderfully  successful  preacher.  During  the 
time  when  he  was  in  New  York,  as  pastor  of  the 
Mt.  Olivet  Baptist  Church,  his  sermons  and  his 
wonderful  success  as  an  evangelist  were  frequently 
reported  in  the  New  York  papers. 

Doctor  Walker  is  not  only  an  extraordinary  pul- 
pit orator,  but  he  is  a  man  of  remarkably  good  sense. 
I  recall  some  instances  in  particular  in  which  he 
showed  this  quality  in  a  very  conspicuous  way. 
The  first  was  at  a  meeting  of  the  National 
Convention  of  Negro  Baptists  at  St.  Louis  in  1886. 
At  this  meeting  some  one  delivered  an  address  on 
the  subject,  "Southern  Ostracism,"  in  which  he 
abused  the  Southern  white  Baptists,  referring  to 
them  as  mere  figureheads,  who  believe  "there  were 
separate  heavens  for  white  and  coloured  people." 

Later  in  the  session  Doctor  Walker  found  an 
opportunity  to  reply  to  these  remarks,  pointing 
out  that  a  few  months  before  the  Southern  Baptist 
Convention  had  passed  a  resolution  to  expend 
$10,000  in  mission  work  among  the  coloured  Bap- 
tists of  the  South.  He  formulated  his  protest 
against  the  remarks  made  by  the  speaker  of  the 
previous  day  in  a  resolution  which  was  passed  by 
the  convention. 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  235 

His  speech  and  the  resolution  were  published  in 
many  of  the  Southern  newspapers  and  denomi- 
national organs  and  did  much  to  change  the  cur- 
rents of  popular  feeling  at  that  time  and  bring 
about  a  better  understanding  between  the  races. 

Dr.  Charles  T.  Walker  was  born  at  the  little 
town  of  Hepzibah,  Richmond  County,  Ga.,  about 
sixteen  miles  south  of  his  present  home,  Augusta. 
His  father,  who  was  his  master's  coachman,  was 
also  deacon  in  the  little  church  organized  by  the 
slaves  in  1848,  of  which  his  uncle  was  pastor. 
Doctor  Walker  comes  of  a  race  of  preachers.  The 
Walker  Baptist  Association  is  named  after  one 
of  his  uncles,  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Walker,  whose  freedom 
was  purchased  by  the  members  of  his  congregation 
who  were  themselves  slaves.  In  1880,  upon  a 
resolution  of  Doctor  Walker,  this  same  Walker  As- 
sociation passed  a  resolution  to  establish  a  normal 
school  for  coloured  children,  known  as  the  Walker 
Baptist  Institute.  This  school  has  from  the  first 
been  supported  by  the  constant  and  unremitting 
efforts  of  Doctor  Walker. 

Meanwhile  he  has  been  interested  in  other  good 
works.  He  assisted  in  establishing  the  Augusta 
Sentinel,  and  in  1891,  while  he  was  travelling  in 
the  Holy  Land,  his  accounts  of  his  travels  did  much 
to  brighten  its  pages  and  increase  its  circulation. 


236  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

In  1893  he  was  one  of  a  number  of  other  coloured 
people  to  establish  a  Negro  state  fair  at  Augusta, 
which  has  continued  successfully  ever  since.  An- 
other of  his  enterprises  started  and  carried  on  in 
connection  with  his  church  is  the  Tabernacle 
Old  Folks'  Home.  He  has  taken  a  prominent 
part  in  all  the  religious  and  educational  work  of  the 
state  and  has  even  dipped,  to  some  extent,  into 
politics,  having  been  at  one  time  a  member  of  the 
Republican  state  executive  committee. 

Aside  from  these  manifold  activities,  and  beyond 
all  he  has  done  in  other  directions,  Doctor  Walker 
has  been  a  man  who  has  constantly  sought  to  take 
life  as  he  found  it  and  make  the  most  of  the  oppor- 
tunities that  he  saw  about  him  for  himself  and  his 
people.  He  has  not  been  an  agitator  and  has  done 
more  than  any  other  man  I  know  to  bring  about 
peace  and  good-will  between  the  two  sections  of  the 
country  and  the  races.  It  is  largly  due  to  his 
influence  that  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  the  black  man  and 
the  white  man  live  more  happily  and  comfort- 
ably than  they  do  in  almost  any  other  city  in  the 
United  States. 

The  motto  of  Doctor  Walker's  life  I  can  state  in 
his  own  words.  "I  am  determined,"  he  has  said, 
"never  to  be  guilty  of  ingratitude;  never  to  desert 
a  friend;  and  never  to  strike  back  at  an  enemy." 


LEARNED  FROM  BLACK  MEN  237 

It  is  because  of  such  men  as  Doctor  Walker  and 
many  others  like  him  that  I  have  learned  not  only 
to  respect  but  to  take  pride  in  the  race  to  which  I 
belong. 

In  seeking  to  answer  the  question  as  to  the  rel- 
ative value  of  the  man  of  pure  African  extraction 
and  the  man  of  mixed  blood  I  have  referred  to  five 
men  who  have  gained  some  distinction  in  very 
different  walks  of  life.  There  are  hundreds  of 
others  I  could  name,  who,  though  not  so  con- 
spicuous nor  so  well  known,  are  performing  in  their 
humble  way  valuable  service  for  their  race  and 
country.  I  might  also  mention  here  the  fact  that 
at  Tuskegee,  during  an  experience  of  thirty  years, 
we  have  found  that,  although  perhaps  a  majority  of 
our  students  are  not  of  pure  black  blood,  still  the 
highest  honours  in  our  graduating  class,  namely, 
that  of  valedictorian,  which  is  given  to  students  who 
have  attained  the  highest  scholarship  during  the 
whole  course  of  their  studies,  has  been  about  equally 
divided  between  students  of  mixed  and  pure 
blood. 

For  my  own  part,  however,  it  seems  to  me  a  rather 
unprofitable  discussion  that  seeks  to  determine  in 
advance  the  possibilities  of  any  individual  or  any 
race  or  class  of  individuals.  In  the  first  place, 
races,  like  individuals,  have  different  qualities  and 


238  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

different  capacities  for  service  and,  that  being  the 
case,  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  give  every  individual 
the  opportunities  for  growth  and  development 
which  will  fit  him  for  the  greatest  usefulness. 

When  any  individual  and  any  race  is  allowed  to 
find  that  place,  freely  and  without  compulsion,  they 
will  not  only  be  happy  and  contented  in  themselves, 
but  will  fall  naturally  into  the  happiest  possible 
relations  with  all  other  members  of  the  community. 

In  the  second  place,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
human  life  and  human  society  are  so  complicated 
that  no  one  can  determine  what  latent  possibilities 
any  individual  or  any  race  may  possess.  It  is 
only  through  education,  and  through  struggle  and 
experiment  in  all  the  different  activities  and  rela- 
tions of  life,  that  it  is  possible  for  a  race  or  an 
individual  to  find  the  place  in  the  common  life  in 
which  they  can  be  of  the  greatest  value  to  them- 
selves and  the  rest  of  the  world. 

To  assume  anything  else  is  to  deny  the  value 
of  the  free  institutions  under  which  we  live  and 
of  all  the  centuries  of  struggle  and  effort  it  has  cost 
to  bring  them  into  existence. 


CHAPTER  X 

MEETING    HIGH    AND    LOW    IN    EUROPE 

I  HAVE  gotten  an  education  by  meeting  all 
classes  of  people  in  the  United  States.  I 
have  been  fortunate  in  getting  much  education 
by  coming  into  contact  with  different  classes  of 
people  in  Europe. 

In  the  course  of  my  journey  across  Europe  I 
visited,  in  the  fall  of  1910,  the  ancient  city  of 
Cracow,  the  former  capital  of  Poland.  It  was 
evening  when  we  reached  our  destination,  and, 
as  we  had  been  travelling  all  day  without  sighting 
an  American  or  any  one  who  spoke  English,  I  began 
to  feel  more  at  sea  than  I  had  ever  felt  before  in 
my  life.  I  was  a  little  surprised,  therefore,  as  I 
was  getting  out  of  the  omnibus,  to  hear  some  one 
say  in  an  unmistakable  American  accent:  "Excuse 
me,  but  isn't  this  Booker  T.  Washington  ?" 

I  replied  that  it  was,  and  added  that  I  was  very 
glad  to  hear  that  kind  of  a  voice  in  this  remote  corner 
of  Europe.     In   a  few  minutes   I  was   exchanging 

239 


240  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

notes  with  a  man  who  once  lived,  he  said,  in  the 
same  part  of  the  country  I  came  from,  in  West 
Virginia.  He  had  come  originally  from  Poland 
and  was,  I  suspect,  a  Polish  Jew,  one  of  that  large 
number  of  returned  immigrants  whom  one  meets 
in  every  part  of  Eastern  and  Southern  Europe. 

The  next  day  I  met  a  very  intelligent  American 
lady,  though  of  Polish  origin,  who  turned  out  to 
be  the  wife  of  the  Polish  count  who  was  the  owner 
and  proprietor  of  the  hotel.  It  was  this  lady  who 
advised  me  to  go  and  visit,  while  I  was  in  Cracow, 
the  tomb  of  the  Polish  patriot,  Kosciuszko,  whose 
name  I  had  learned  in  school  as  one  of  those  revolu- 
tionary heroes  who,  when  there  was  no  longer  any 
hope  of  liberty  for  their  own  people  in  the  old  world, 
had  crossed  the  seas  to  help  establish  it  in  the  new. 

I  knew  from  my  school  history  what  Kosciuszko 
had  done  for  America  in  its  early  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence. I  did  not  know,  however,  until  my  atten- 
tion was  called  to  it  in  Cracow,  what  Kosciuszko 
had  done  for  the  freedom  and  education  of  my 
own  people. 

After  his  second  visit  to  this  country  in  1797 
Kosciuszko,  I  learned,  made  a  will  in  which  he 
bequeathed  part  of  his  property  in  this  country 
in  trust  to  Thomas  Jefferson  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  the  freedom  of  Negro  slaves 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  241 

and  giving  them  instruction  in  the  trades  and 
otherwise. 

Seven  years  after  his  death  a  school  of  Negroes, 
known  as  the  Kosciuszko  school,  was  established 
in  Newark,  N.  J.  The  sum  left  for  the  benefit  of 
this  school  amounted  to  thirteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  Polish  patriot  is  buried  in  the  cathedral  at 
Cracow,  which  is  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Poland, 
and  is  filled  with  memorials  of  the  honoured  names  of 
that  country.  Kosciuszko  lies  in  a  vault  beneath 
the  marble  floor  of  the  cathedral.  As  I  looked 
upon  his  tomb  I  thought  how  small  the  world  is 
after  all,  and  how  curiously  interwoven  are  the 
interests  that  bind  people  together.  Here  I  was 
in  this  strange  land,  farther  from  my  home  than  I 
had  ever  expected  to  be  in  my  life,  and  yet  I  was 
paying  my  respects  to  a  man  to  whom  the  members 
of  my  race  owed  one  of  the  first  permanent  schools 
for  them  in  the  United  States. 

When  I  visited  the  tomb  of  Kosciuszko  I  placed 
a  rose  on  it  in  the  name  of  my  race. 

A  few  days  later  I  took  a  day's  journey  by  train 
and  wagon  into  a  remote  part  of  the  country  dis- 
tricts of  Poland  in  order  to  see  something  of  the 
more  primitive  peasant  life  of  that  region.  Away 
up  in  the  mountains  we  stopped  at  a  little  group  of 
thatched-roof  cottages.      As  I  wanted  to  see  what 


242  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

their  homes  looked  like  inside,  I  knocked  at  the 
door  of  one  of  them  and  made  some  inquiry  or  other 
in  English,  not  expecting  to  get  a  reply  that  I  could 
understand.  I  was  surprised  to  hear  a  man  answer 
me  in  fairly  good  English.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  lived  for  a  long  time  in  Detroit,  Mich.  My 
companion,  Dr.  Robert  E.  Park,  who  had  also  lived 
in  that  city,  was  soon  talking  familiarly  with  him 
about  a  famous  rebel  priest,  Kolisinski,  who  had 
been  a  leader  of  the  Polish  colony  in  that  city. 

A  week  before  that  I  had  visited,  in  the  wildest 
part  of  Sicily,  the  sulphur  mines  of  Campo  Franco. 
In  the  deepest  part  of  these  mines  I  discovered  a 
man  who  had  been  a  miner  in  West  Virginia,  in 
the  same  region  in  which,  years  before,  I  had  myself 
learned  to  mine  coal. 

These  incidents  were  characteristic  of  a  kind  of 
experience  I  had  everywhere  in  Europe.  In  the 
most  remote  parts  of  the  country,  where  I  expected 
to  meet  people  who  had,  perhaps,  never  heard  of 
America,  I  found  people  who  not  only  spoke  my  own 
language,  but  welcomed  me  almost  as  a  fellow  coun- 
tryman. All  this  led  me  to  realize,  as  I  had  not 
been  able  to  do  before,  the  close  and  intimate  way 
in  which  the  life,  the  problems,  and  the  people  of 
Europe  were  touching  and  influencing  America. 
But  it  led  me  also  to  notice  and  study  the  curious 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  243 

and   to  me  surprising  reflex  influence  of  America 
on  Europe. 

I  have  made  in  all  three  visits  to  Europe.  On 
my  first  visit,  a  number  of  years  ago,  I  made  the 
journey  with  no  very  definite  purpose  in  mind. 
I  kept  in  the  main  line  of  travel  and  saw  what  I 
may  call  the  polite  and  official  side  of  life  in  England 
and  some  portions  of  the  continent.  In  London, 
for  example,  I  was  entertained  by  the  American 
ambassador,  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate,  had  the 
privilege  of  attending  one  of  the  queen's  luncheons 
at  Windsor  Castle,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Hon.  James  Bryce,  the  present  ambassador  to  the 
United  States,  besides  meeting  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished men  whose  names  were  familiar  to  me 
in  connection  with  some  important  phase  of  the 
world's  work  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

On  my  last  trip  I  made  up  my  mind  to  leave,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  main  highways  of  travel  and 
see  something  of  the  condition  of  the  poorer  people, 
whose  lives  are  neither  polite  nor  picturesque  nor 
pleasant  to  look  at.  My  purpose  in  making  this 
trip  was  to  compare,  as  far  as  I  was  able,  the  con- 
dition of  the  masses  of  my  own  people  in  this  country 
with  the  masses  of  the  people  in  Europe,  who  are 
in  relatively  the  same  situation  in  political  and 
economic  opportunity.     I  believed  that  if  the  black 


244  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

people  in  America  knew  something  of  the  burdens 
and  difficulties  under  which  the  masses  of  the  people 
in  Europe  live  and  work  they  would  see  that  their 
own  situation  was  by  no  means  so  hopeless  as  they 
have  been  sometimes  taught  to  believe. 

I  had  another  reason  for  desiring  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  situation  of  people  at  the  bottom  in  Europe. 
For  a  number  of  years  I  have  been  convinced  that 
there  is  a  very  intimate  relation  between  the  work 
I  have  been  trying  to  do  at  Tuskegee  Institute 
for  the  masses  of  the  Negroes  in  the  South  and  the 
work  that  was  being  done  for  the  poorer  classes  of 
the  people  in  the  different  parts  of  Europe.  Differ- 
ent as  has  been  the  history  of  the  black  man  in  the 
South  and  the  white  man  in  Europe,  there  were,  I 
was  convinced,  many  points  in  which  the  life  of 
the  one  would  compare  with  the  life  of  the  other. 
In  the  case  of  the  Negro  we  have  a  black  people 
struggling  up  from  slavery  to  freedom:  in  the  other 
case  we  have  a  white  man  making  his  way  upward 
through  a  milder  form  of  subjection  and  servitude 
to  a  position  of  political  and  economic  independence; 
and,  in  each  case,  the  means  by  which  the  long 
journey  has  been  made,  in  the  one  instance  by  a 
race,  in  the  other  by  a  class,  has  been,  in  many 
respects,  the  same. 

But  aside  from  all  that,  I  was  interested  in  these 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  245 

people  for  their  own  sake.  An  individual  or  a 
race  that  has  come  up  from  slavery  cannot  but  feel 
a  peculiar  interest  and  sympathy  with  any  other 
individual  or  race  that  has  travelled  that  same 
journey  or  any  part  of  it. 

I  arrived  in  London  in  the  late  summer.  At  that 
time  all  the  polite  world,  all  the  distinguished  and 
all  the  wealthy  people,  were  away  in  some  other 
part  of  the  world  upon  their  vacations,  and  the 
city,  as  far  as  these  people  were  concerned,  was 
like  a  winter  residence  which  had  been  closed  for 
the  summer.  But  the  other  six  million,  whose 
acquaintance  I  had  determined  to  make  upon  this 
trip,  were  there. 

In  one  way  or  another  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  the 
life  of  the  poorer  classes,  particularly  in  that  vast 
region  inhabited  almost  wholly  by  people  of  the 
poorer  and  working  classes,  which  goes  under  the 
name  of  East  London.  I  tramped  about  at  night, 
visiting  the  darkest  corners  of  the  city  I  could  find. 
One  night  I  interviewed,  on  the  Thames  Embank- 
ment, those  dreary  outcasts  of  the  great  city  who 
wander  up  and  down  the  bank  of  the  river  all  day 
and  sleep  upon  the  pavement  at  night.  At  another 
time  I  visited  the  alehouses  and  the  bar-rooms, 
where  men  and  women  of  the  poorer  classes  congre- 
gate at  night  to  drink  and  gossip.     I  went  several 


246  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

times  to  the  police  courts  in  some  of  the  poorer 
parts  of  the  city,  where  I  had  a  chance  to  observe 
the  methods  by  which  the  police  courts  of  London 
deal  with  the  failures  and  unfortunates  of  the  city 
who  in  one  way  or  other  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
police. 

It  had  been  my  plan  to  give  as  large  a  part  of  my 
time  as  possible  to  getting  acquainted  with  the 
working  classes  in  the  farming  regions  of  Austria, 
Italy,  and  Denmark. 

To  a  certain  extent  the  condition  of  the  urban 
labourers  in  London  connected  itself  in  my  mind 
with  the  condition  of  the  rural  population  in  other 
countries  I  have  mentioned,  since  London  represents 
the  largest  city  population  in  the  world,  and  Eng- 
land is  the  country  in  which  the  masses  of  the  people 
have  been  most  completely  detached  from  the 
land,  while  Austria,  Italy,  and  Denmark  are  dis- 
tinctly agricultural  countries,  and  leaving  out  Russia, 
represent  the  parts  of  Europe  where  the  people, 
to  a  greater  extent  than  elsewhere,  live  close  to 
the  soil. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  describe  in  detail  what 
I  learned  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  masses 
of  the  people  in  the  different  parts  of  Europe  I 
visited.  As  a  rule  I  suppose  the  man  on  the  soil 
has   always   represented    the    most    backward   and 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  247 

neglected  portion  of  the  population.  This  class 
has  everywhere,  until  recent  years,  had  fewer  oppor- 
tunities for  education  than  the  similar  classes  in 
the  cities  and,  where  the  people  who  tilled  the  soil 
have  not  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  soil  — 
as  is  especially  true  in  certain  parts  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  lower  Italy  —  they  have  remained  in  a 
condition  of  greater  or  less  subjection  to  the  land- 
owning classes.  In  lower  Italy,  where  the  masses 
of  the  farming  population  have  neither  land  nor 
schools,  they  have  remained  in  a  position  not  far 
removed  from  slavery.  In  Denmark,  on  the  con- 
trary, where  the  farming  class  is,  for  the  most  part, 
made  up  of  independent  landowners,  not  only  has 
agriculture  been  more  thoroughly  developed  and 
organized  than  elsewhere,  but  farmers  are  a  dom- 
inating influence  in  the  political  life  of  the 
country. 

In  England,  which  is  the  home  of  political  liberty, 
the  working  classes  have  all  the  political  privileges 
of  other  Englishmen,  although  the  bulk  of  the  land 
is  in  the  hands  of  a  comparatively  few  landowners. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  majority  of  the  labourers 
in  the  cities  have  not  increased  their  economic  inde- 
pendence. In  fact,  the  English  city  labourer,  from 
all  that  I  could  observe,  seemed  to  be  in  a  position 
of  greater  dependence  upon  his  employer  and  upon 


248  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the  capitalist  than  is  true  of  any  other  country  I 
visited. 

I  recall  one  incident  of  my  stay  in  London  which 
emphasized  this  fact  in  my  mind:  I  noticed  one 
day  a  man  who  was  standing,  with  his  hands  in 
his  pockets,  looking  vaguely  into  the  street,  one 
of  those  types  of  the  casual  labourer  of  whom  one 
meets  so  many  examples  in  London.  I  asked  if 
work  was  plentiful  about  this  time  of  the  year. 

"No,"  he  replied.  "It  is  hard  to  get  anything 
to  do,  so  many  people  are  out  of  town." 

This  man  looked  to  me  like  a  dock  labourer. 
I  met  him  somewhere,  I  think,  on  or  near  Mile  End 
Road,  in  the  East  End,  which  is  in  the  centre  of  a  dis- 
trict of  over  a  million  inhabitants  made  up  entirely 
of  working  people.  I  told  him  I  could  not  under- 
stand how  the  absence  of  a  few  hundred  or  a  few 
thousand  individuals  from  a  great  city  like  London 
could  make  much  difference  to  him.  "It  makes  a 
great  difference,  sir,"  he  replied.  "Everything  seems 
to  stop  when  they  go  away." 

This  man  was,  to  be  sure,  a  casual  labourer,  one 
who  had,  perhaps,  been  crowded  out  by  competition 
from  the  regular  avenues  of  employment.  But  there 
is  an  enormous  number  of  these  casual  labourers  in 
England.     They  seem  to  be  a  product  of  the  system. 

A  week  or  ten  days  later  I  met  at  Skibo  Castle 


TOMPKINS  MEMORIAL  HALL,   HAMPTON   INSTITUTE 

In  the  Tompkins  Memorial  Hall  1700  students  during  the 
school  term  take  their  meals  three  times  daily.  The  building 
cost  approximately  #175,000,  and  is  the  largest  building  on 
the  Institute  Grounds. 


TRADE  SCHOOL  AT   HAMPTON    INSTITUTE 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  249 

in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  Lord  John  Morley. 
at  that  time  secretary  of  state  for  India.  During 
the  time  that  I  was  there  the  question  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  labouring  classes  was  several  times 
touched  upon  in  conversation  and  some  reference 
was  made  to  the  condition  I  have  referred  to.  I 
recall  that  Lord  Morley  listened  to  the  discussion 
for  some  time  without  making  any  comment.  Then 
he  said  very  positively  that,  in  spite  of  all  that  had 
been  said,  the  English  labourer  was,  in  his  opinion, 
in  a  greatly  better  position  to-day  than  he  had  ever 
been  before  in  his  history.  I  was  the  more  impressed 
with  this  statement  because  it  came  from  a  man 
who  has  a  world-wide  reputation  as  a  scholar  and 
a  writer,  and  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  member 
of  what  is  the  most  democratic  government  that 
has  ever  ruled  in  England,  a  government,  also, 
that  has  sought  to  do  more  than  any  other  to  im- 
prove the  living  conditions  of  the  labouring 
classes. 

The  experience  I  had  among  the  poorer  classes  in 
London  helped  me  to  realize,  as  I  had  not  done  before, 
the  opportunity  that  the  Negro,  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
criminations and  injustices  from  which  he  suffers, 
has  in  America  to-day,  and  particularly  in  the 
Southern  States,  where  there  is  still  opportunity 
to  get  land,  to  live  in  God's  open  country  and  in 


250  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

contact  with  simple,  natural  things,  compared  with 
that  of  the  people  in  the  crowded  English  cities, 
where  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  live  practi- 
cally from  hand  to  mouth  and  where  one  tenth  of 
the  population,  according  to  an  investigation  some 
years  ago,  are  living  either  in  poverty  or  on  the  edge 
of  destitution. 

At  the  present  moment  the  national  govern- 
ment, in  conjunction  with  the  city  of  London,  is 
spending  immense  sums  of  money  in  laying  out 
parks,  in  building  public  baths,  model  tenements 
and  lodging  houses  in  some  of  the  poorer  quarters 
of  the  city.  Better  than  all  else,  they  are  building 
out  in  the  suburbs,  on  some  of  the  vacant  land  out- 
side the  city,  beautiful  garden  cities,  rows  and  rows 
of  model  houses,  each  with  its  little  garden  in  front 
of  it,  and  each  provided  with  every  convenience  that 
modern  invention  and  science  can  suggest  to  make 
it  healthful,  convenient,  and  comfortable.  As  a 
result  of  this  improvement,  thousands  of  working 
people  are  being  removed  every  year  from  the  dark, 
gloomy,  and  unhealthy  regions  of  the  overcrowded 
city  to  these  free,  open  spaces,  where  they  have  an 
opportunity  to  get  in  contact  with  God's  free  air 
and  sunlight. 

I  confess  that  I  marvelled  at  the  time  and  interest 
and    money    that    have    been    expended    not    only 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  251 

by  the  government,  but  by  the  philanthropic  people 
of  London,  in  attempting  to  ameliorate  and  to  raise 
the  level  of  life  among  the  poorer  working  classes. 
I  am  convinced  that  if  one  half  or  one  tenth  of  the 
money,  interest,  and  sympathy  that  have  been  ex- 
pended for  the  education  and  uplifting  of  the  poorer 
classes  in  London  were  spent  upon  the  Negro  in 
the  South,  the  race  problem  in  our  country  would 
be  practically  solved. 

After  visiting  London,  I  went,  as  I  have  said,  to 
Austria  and  spent  some  time  in  the  city  of  Prague, 
in  Bohemia;  in  Vienna,  Austria,  and  Budapest, 
Hungary.  While  there  I  had  opportunity  several 
times  to  go  out  into  the  country  districts  and  see 
something  of  the  condition  of  the  farm  labourers. 
From  there  I  went  to  Sicily.  I  saw  something  of 
the  condition  of  the  small  farmers  in  the  region  of 
Palermo.  I  visited  the  sulphur  mines  at  Campo 
Franco  in  the  mountainous  region  of  the  interior. 
I  passed  several  days  at  Catania  and  saw  the  grape 
harvest  and  the  men  bare-legged  treading  the  wine 
in  the  same  way  I  have  read  in  the  Bible.  From 
there  I  returned  and  passed  several  days  in  Austrian 
Poland  and  visited  the  salt  mines.  I  went  out  into 
the  country  districts  and  saw  the  condition  of  the 
people  in  the  small  country  towns  in  the  region 
around  Cracow.     I  crossed  the  frontier  into  Russian 


252  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Poland  and  visited  a  Russian  village.  From  there 
I  went  to  Copenhagen  and  gained  new  acquaintance 
with  the  wonderful  things  that  have  been  accom- 
plished in  the  way  of  organizing  and  developing 
agricultural  life  in  that  little  state. 

In  thinking  over  all  that  I  saw  and  learned  during 
my  trip  abroad,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  clearly 
discern,  in  all  those  parts  of  Europe  where  the  people 
are  most  backward,  the  signs  of  a  great,  silent  revolu- 
tion. Everywhere,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of 
lower  Italy  and  Sicily,  I  thought  I  could  see  that 
the  man  at  the  bottom  was  making  his  way  upward 
and,  in  doing  so,  was  lifting  the  level  of  civilization. 

Directly  and  indirectly  this  revolution  has,  to 
a  very  considerable  extent,  been  brought  about 
through  the  influence  of  the  United  States.  For 
example,  one  of  the  results  of  the  opening  up  of 
the  great  grain  fields  in  the  central  part  of  the  United 
States  was  to  break  up  the  whole  system  of  agri- 
culture in  every  part  of  Europe  where  the  products 
of  American  agriculture  come  in  competition  with 
those  of  Europe.  It  was  this  same  competition 
with  American  agriculture  that  provoked  the 
immigration  from  Austria,  Hungary,  and  southern 
Italy.  I  found  that  wherever  the  condition  of  farm 
labour  was  particularly  bad  in  Southern  Europe 
the  emigration  from  that  part  of  Europe  to  America 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  253 

was  especially  large  and  increasing.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  Denmark,  where  the  agricultural  crisis 
had  been  overcome  by  more  intensive  and  intelli- 
gent methods  of  farming,  emigration  to  the  United 
States  had  almost  ceased. 

A  secondary  effect  has  been  to  bring  about  a 
reorganization  of  agriculture  in  such  a  way  as  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  farmer.  In  several  coun- 
tries efforts  have  been  made  to  break  up  the  large 
estates  and  increase  the  number  of  small  landowners. 
There  has  been  a  very  general  improvement  in  the 
character  of  the  rural  schools.  The  states  of  Europe, 
having  discovered  that  their  rural  population  is 
one  of  the  most  important  of  the  natural  resources, 
have  begun  to  take  practical  measures  to  educate 
and  improve  the  neglected  masses. 

To  a  large  extent  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  older 
civilization  had  been  built  up  on  the  ignorance  and 
the  oppression  of  the  masses  of  the  people  who  were 
at  the  bottom.  The  welfare  of  the  few  was  obtained 
at  the  expense  of  the  many.  On  the  other  hand, 
at  the  present  time,  wherever  any  of  these  countries 
are  successful  and  are  making  progress,  they  are 
seeking  to  do  so,  not  by  oppressing  and  holding 
down  the  masses  of  the  people,  but  by  building  them 
up,  making  them  more  intelligent,  more  indepen- 
dent, better  able  to  think  and  care  for  themselves. 


254  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

It  was,  first  of  all,  the  competition  with  America 
which  brought  this  result  about.  It  was,  in  the 
second  place,  the  contact  of  the  masses  of  the  people 
with  life  in  America  which  has  made  the  change. 
I  met  everywhere  in  Southern  Europe,  among  the 
labouring  classes  of  the  people,  those  who  had  been 
to  America  and  who  had  returned.  Frequently 
they  had  returned  with  money  which  they  had 
earned  at  common  labour  in  America,  and  had 
bought  and  improved  property.  The  number  of 
small  landowners  has  increased  greatly  in  Hungary, 
Poland,  and  in  southern  Italy  as  the  result  of  the 
emigration  to  America.  These  people  came  back, 
sometimes  with  money,  but  always  with  new  ideas 
and  new  ambitions.  They  refused  to  work  for  the 
same  wages  that  they  had  previously  worked  for. 
The  result  was  that  the  price  of  farm  labour  has 
greatly  increased,  both  in  Italy  and  in  other  parts  of 
Southern  Europe. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  compelled  the  greater 
use  of  farm  machinery,  compelled  more  intensive 
and  rational  methods  of  agriculture.  But  nowhere 
did  I  find,  as  some  people  had  expected,  that  this 
emigration  had  had  a  deterrent  effect  upon  the 
development  of  the  country.  For  the  labouring 
masses,  particularly  in  the  rural  parts  of  Southern 
Europe,  the  journey  to  Ameiica  has  been  a  sort  of 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  255 

higher  education;  it  has  taught  them  not  only  to 
work  better  and  more  efficiently,  but  to  have  confi- 
dence in  themselves  and  to  hope  and  believe  in  a 
better  future  for  themselves  and  their  children. 
In  this  way  the  silent  revolution  to  which  I  refer 
in  Europe  has  come  about. 

Now  if  there  is  any  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  these 
facts,  it  seems  to  me  it  is  this:  that  more  and  more, 
at  the  present  day,  education  must  take  the  place 
of  force  in  the  affairs  of  men.  The  world  is  chang- 
ing. The  greatest  nation  to-day  is  not  the  nation 
with  the  greatest  army,  not  the  nation  that  can 
destroy  the  most,  but  the  nation  with  the  most 
efficient  labourers  and  the  most  productive  machin- 
ery; the  nation  that  can  produce  the  most. 

But  if  labour  is  to  be  efficient,  it  must  be  trained 
and  it  must  be  free.  The  schoolteacher  to-day  is  more 
important  to  the  state  than  the  soldier;  and  the  aim 
of  the  highest  statesmanship  should  be  the  improve- 
ment not  so  much  of  the  army  as  of  the  school. 

Although  I  started  out  on  my  last  visit  to  Europe 
with  the  determination  of  getting  acquainted  with 
the  people  at  the  bottom  and  made  that  my  main 
business  while  I  was  there,  I  did,  incidentally,  have 
opportunity  to  see  something,  also,  of  the  people 
at  the  top.  In  fact,  some  of  the  pleasantest  and  most 
profitable  moments  I  had  during  my  stay  in  Europe 


256  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

were  those  spent  in  conversation  with  people  who 
were  either  interested  or  actively  engaged  in  some 
kind  of  public  service  which  connected  itself  with 
the  work  that  I  have  been  trying  to  do  for  my  own 
people  in  America. 

For  example,  I  made  the  acquaintance  through 
my  friend,  Mr.  Jacob  Riis,  of  Mr.  V.  Cavling, 
the  editor  of  one  of  the  most  important  papers  in 
Denmark,  the  Politiken.  It  was  largely  through 
him  that  I  was  able  to  see  and  learn  as  much  as  I 
did,  during  the  short  time  that  I  was  there,  of  the 
life  of  the  country  people  and  of  the  remarkable 
schools  that  have  been  established  for  their  benefit 
in  the  country  districts.  While  I  was  in  Copenhagen 
I  was  introduced  by  the  American  ambassador, 
Mr.  Maurice  F,  Egan,  to  the  king  and  queen  of 
Denmark.  I  .learned  to  my  surprise  that  their 
majesties  were  perfectly  familiar  with  the  work 
that  we  are  doing  at  Tuskegee  and  I  found  them  anx- 
ious to  talk  with  me  about  the  possibility  of  a  similar 
work  for  the  Negroes  in  the  Danish  West  India 
Islands,  where  there  are  about  thirty  thousand 
people  of  African  descent.  The  queen  told  me  that 
she  had  read  not  only  my  earlier  book  "Up  From 
Slavery,"  but  the  volume  I  had  just  completed, 
"The  Story  of  the  Negro."  What  surprised  me 
most  was  to  find  the  king  and  queen  of  Denmark 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  257 

so  much  better  informed  in  regard  to  the  actual 
condition  and  progress  of  the  Negro  in  America 
than  so  many  Americans  I  have  met. 

At  another  time  I  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Andrew 
Carnegie  at  his  summer  home  in  Scotland.  Three 
of  the  most  interesting  and  restful  days  I  have  ever 
had  were  spent  at  Skibo  Castle.  Although  Skibo 
is  situated  in  the  wildest  and  most  Northern  part  of 
Scotland,  farther  removed  from  the  world,  it  seemed 
to  me,  than  any  other  place  I  had  ever  visited,  I 
never  felt  nearer  the  centre  of  things  than  I  did 
while  I  was  there. 

All  kinds  of  people  find  their  way  to  Skibo  Castle, 
and  apparently  any  one  who  has  something  really 
valuable  to  contribute  to  the  world's  welfare  or 
progress  finds  a  welcome  there. 

Naturally,  among  guests  of  that  sort,  conversa- 
tion and  discussion  took  a  wide  range.  For  three 
days  I  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  great  world 
questions  discussed  familiarly  by  men  who  knew 
them  at  first  hand.  At  the  time  that  I  met  Lord 
John  Morley  at  Skibo  Castle  he  was  still  secretary 
of  state  for  India.  I  had  never  been  able  to  get 
any  definite  conception,  from  what  I  had  read  in 
the  newspapers,  of  the  actual  situation  as  between 
the  two  races  in  India,  the  English  and  the  native 
Indians,  and  I  was  very  glad  to  hear  Lord  Morley 


258  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

comment  on  that  puzzling  and  perplexing  problem. 
What  he  said  about  the  matter  was  the  more  inter- 
esting because  he  was  able  to  draw  parallels  between 
racial  conditions  in  the  Eastern  and  the  Western 
world,  between  the  Indians  in  India  and  the  Negroes 
in  the  United  States. 

After  I  returned  from  the  south  of  Europe  I  made 
two  addresses  in  London,  one  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Anti-slavery  and  Aborigines  Protection  Society, 
and  the  other  at  the  National  Liberal  Club.  At  these 
meetings  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  face  to  face 
people  who,  as  missionaries,  writers,  or  government 
officials,  had,  both  in  Africa  and  at  home,  laboured 
for  the  welfare  and  the  salvation  of  the  members 
of  my  race  in  parts  of  the  world  I  had  never  seen. 

For  example,  at  the  luncheon  given  me  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Anti-slavery  and  Aborigines 
Protection  Society,  Sir  T.  Folwell  Buxton,  grand- 
son of  the  noted  abolitionist  and  statesman  who 
did  so  much  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
British  West  Indies,  was  the  presiding  officer. 

It  happened  that,  at  this  time,  the  Society  of 
Friends,  /which  has  been  from  the  beginning  to  the 
present  day,  both  in  England  and  America,  the 
best  friend  the  Negro  has  ever  had,  was  holding  its 
annual  meeting,  and  many  of  the  members  of  this 
sect  were  present  the  day  I  spoke.     Among  others 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  259 

I  remember  who  have  distinguished  themselves  by 
what  they  have  done  for  the  Negro  in  Africa  were 
Sir  Harry  H.  Johnston,  the  noted  African  explorer; 
Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle,  Mr.  E.  D.  Morel,  and  Rev. 
J.  H.  Harris,  secretary  of  the  Anti-slavery  and 
Aborigines  Protection  Society,  all  of  whom  have 
had  so  large  a  part  in  the  struggle  to  bring  about 
reform  in  the  Congo  Free  State. 

Among  the  many  pleasant  surprises  of  this  lunch- 
eon were  a  large  number  of  letters  from  distin- 
guished persons  who  were  unable  to  be  present. 
Among  them,  I  remember,  was  a  very  cordial  note 
from  the  Prime  Minister  of  England,  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Herbert  Henry  Asquith,  and  among  others  were  two 
from  distinguished  personal  friends  which  expressed 
so  generous  an  appreciation  of  the  work  I  have  at- 
tempted to  do  that  I  am  tempted  to  reproduce  them 
here.  These  letters  were  addressed  to  John  H.  Harris, 
secretary  of  the  Anti-Slavery  and  Aborigines  Pro- 
tection Society,  and  were  as  follows: 

Skibo  Castle, 

Dornech 

Sutherland, 

Sept.  19th,  1910. 

Dear  Mr.  Harris: 

I  regret  exceedingly  to  miss  any  opportunity  of  doing 
honor  to  one  of  the  greatest  men  living,  Booker  Washington. 
Taking  into  account  his  start  in  life,  born  a  slave,  and  now  the 


260  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

acknowledged  leader  of  his  people,  I  do  not  know  a  parallel 
to  the  ascent  he  has  made.  He  has  marched  steadily  upward 
to  undisputed  leadership,  carrying  with  this  the  confidence  and 
approval  of  the  white  race,  and  winning  the  warm  friendship 
of  its  foremost  members  —  a  double  triumph. 

Booker  Washington  is  to  rank  with  the  few  immortals  as 
one  who  has  not  only  shown  his  people  the  promised  land,  but 
is  teaching  them  to  prove  themselves  worthy  of  it  —  a  Joshua 
and  Moses  combined. 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)  Andrew  Carnegie. 

The  other  letter,  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, was  as  follows: 

It  is  a  great  disappointment  to  me  that  paramount  engage- 
ments far  away  from  London  render  it  impossible  for  me  to  be 
present  at  the  gathering  which  is  to  give  greeting  and  God- 
speed to  Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington's  acquaintance,  and  I  share 
with  all  those  who  know  the  facts,  the  appreciation  of  the  ser- 
vices he  has  rendered  and  is  rendering  to  the  solution  of  one  of 
the  gravest  and  most  perplexing  problems  of  our  time.  He  is  a 
man  who,  in  every  sense,  deserves  well  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  I  believe  that,  when  hereafter  the  story  is  written  of  Chris- 
tian people's  endeavor  in  our  day  to  atone  for  and  to  amend  the 
racial  wrongdoing  of  the  past,  Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington's 
name  will  stand  in  the  very  forefront  of  those  for  whom  the 
world  will  give  thanks.' 

It  was  a  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  to  me  to 
meet  and  speak  to  these  distinguished  people  and 
the  manyothers  whom  I  met  while  I  was  in  London. 
What  impressed   me   through   it  all  was  the  wide 


MEETING  HIGH  AND  LOW  261 

outlook  which  they  had  upon  the  world  and  its 
problems.  Questions  which  we  in  America  are 
inclined  to  look  upon  as  local  and  peculiar  to  our 
own  country  assume  in  the  eyes  of  Englishmen  whose 
interests  are  not  confined  to  any  single  country  or 
continent  the  character  of  world  problems.  I 
learned  in  England  to  see  that  the  race  problem  in 
the  United  States  is,  as  Mr.  Herbert  Samuels,  the 
English  postmaster-general  said,  "a  problem  which 
faces  all  countries  in  which  races  of  a  widely  di- 
vergent type  are  living  side  by  side." 

The  success  of  the  Negro  in  America  and  the 
progress  which  has  been  made  here  in  the  solution 
of  the  racial  problem  gained  wider  and  deeper 
meaning  for  me  as  a  result  of  my  visit  to  Europe. 


CHAPTER  XI 

WHAT    I    LEARNED    ABOUT    EDUCATION    IN    DENMARK 

ON  THE  railway  train  between  Copenhagen, 
Denmark,  and  Hamburg,  Germany,  I  fell 
into  conversation  with  an  English  traveller 
who  had  been  in  many  parts  of  the  world  and  who, 
like  myself,  was  returning  from  a  visit  of  observa- 
tion and  study  in  Denmark.  We  exchanged 
traveller's  experiences  with  each  other.  I  found 
that  he  had  had  opportunity  to  study  conditions 
in  that  country  a  great  deal  more  thoroughly  than 
was  true  in  my  case  and  he  gave  me  much  infor- 
mation that  I  was  glad  to  have  about  the  condition 
of  agriculture  and  the  life  of  the  people. 

In  return  I  told  him  something  of  the  places  I 
had  visited  before  going  to  Denmark  and  of  the  way 
I  had  attempted  to  dig  down,  here  and  there  in 
different  parts  of  Europe,  beneath  the  crust  and  see 
what  was  going  on  in  the  lower  strata  of  social  life. 
I  said  to  him,  finally,  that,  after  all  I  had  seen,  I 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  happiest  country 

362 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  263 

in  Europe,  perhaps  the  happiest  country  in  the  world, 
is  Denmark.  Then  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  any 
part  of  the  world  where  the  people  seemed  to  come 
so  near  to  solving  all  their  problems  as  in  Denmark. 

He  seemed  a  little  startled  and  a  little  amused 
at  that  way  of  putting  the  matter,  but,  after  con- 
sidering the  question,  he  confessed  that  he  had  never 
visited  any  other  part  of  the  world  that  seemed  to 
be  in  a  more  generally  healthy  and  wholesome  condi- 
tion than  this  same  little  country  which  we  were  just 
leaving  behind  us. 

Denmark  is  not  rich  in  the  sense  that  England 
and  the  United  States  are  rich.  I  do  not  know  what 
the  statisticians  say  about  the  matter,  but  I  suppose 
that  in  Denmark  there  are  few  if  any  such  great 
fortunes  as  one  finds  in  England,  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  many  parts  of  Europe.  In  fact,  there 
is  hardly  room  enough  in  this  little  land  for  a  multi- 
millionaire to  move  about  in,  as  it  is  less  than  one 
third  the  size  of  the  state  of  Alabama,  although  it 
has  one  third  more  population. 

Denmark  is  an  agricultural  country.  About 
two  fifths  of  the  whole  population  are  engaged  in 
some  form  or  other  of  agriculture.  The  farms  in 
Denmark  have  been  wonderfully  prosperous  in 
recent  years.  I  doubt,  however,  whether  as  much 
money  has  been  made  or  can  be  made  in  Denmark 


264  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

as  has  been  made  on  the  farms  in  the  best  agricultural 
districts  in  America.  The  soil  is  not  particularly 
rich.  A  large  section  of  the  country  is,  or  has  been 
until  recent  years,  made  up  of  barren  heath  like 
that  in  northern  Scotland.  Within  the  past  few 
years,  as  a  result  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
pieces  of  agricultural  engineering  that  has  ever 
been  attempted,  large  tracts  of  this  waste  have  been 
made  over  into  fruitful  farm  land. 

In  spite  of  disadvantages,  however,  the  country 
has  greatly  prospered  for  a  number  of  years  past. 
People  have  been  coming  from  all  over  the  world 
to  study  Danish  agriculture  and  they  have  gone 
away  marvelling  at  the  results.  I  am  not  going 
to  try  to  tell  in  detail  what  these  results  were  or 
in  what  manner  they  have  been  obtained.  I  will 
merely  say  that  it  seems  to  be  generally  conceded 
that,  both  in  the  methods  of  culture  and  in  the 
marketing  of  the  crops,  Denmark  has  gone  farther 
and  made  greater  progress  than  any  other  part  of 
the  world.  Furthermore,  there  is  no  country,  I 
am  certain,  not  even  the  United  States  or  Canada, 
where  the  average  farmer  stands  so  high  or  exer- 
cises so  large  an  influence  upon  political  and 
social  life  as  he  does  in  Denmark  at  the  present 
time. 

"What's  back  of  the  Danish  farmer?"  I  said  to 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  265 

my  English  friend.  "What  is  it  that  has  made 
agriculture  in  this  country?" 

"It's  the  Danish  schools,"  he  replied. 

I  had  asked  the  same  question  before  and  re- 
ceived various  replies,  but  they  all  wound  up  with 
a  reference  to  the  schools,  particularly  the  country 
high  schools.  I  had  heard  much  of  them  in  America; 
I  heard  of  them  again  in  England;  for  90  per  cent, 
of  Denmark's  agricultural  exports  goes  to  England. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  I  reached  Denmark, 
saw  the  schools  themselves,  and  talked  with  some  of 
the  teachers  —  not,  in  fact,  until  after  I  had  left 
Denmark  and  had  an  opportunity  to  look  into  and 
study  their  history  and  organization  —  that  I  began 
to  comprehend  the  part  that  the  rural  high  schools 
were  playing  in  the  life  of  the  masses  of  tfre  Danish 
people,  and  to  understand  the  manner  in  which  they 
had  influenced  and  helped  to  build  up  the  agriculture 
of  the  country. 

There  are  two  things  about  these  rural  high  schools 
that  were  of  peculiar  interest  to  me:  First,  they 
have  had  their  origin  in  a  movement  to  help  the 
common  people,  and  to  lift  the  level  of  the  masses, 
particularly  in  the  rural  district;  second,  they  have 
succeeded.  I  venture  to  say  that  in  no  part  of  the 
world  is  the  general  average  intelligence  of  the 
farming  class  higher  than  it  is  in  Denmark.     I   was 


266  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

impressed  in  my  visits  to  the  homes  of  some  of  the 
small  farmers  by  the  number  of  papers  and  maga- 
zines to  be  found  in  their  homes. 

In  recent  years  there  has  sprung  up  in  many 
parts  of  Europe  a  movement  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  the  working  masses  through  education. 
Wherever  any  effort  has  been  made  on  a  large  scale 
to  improve  agriculture,  it  has  almost  invariably 
taken  the  form  of  a  school  of  some  sort  or  other. 
For  example,  in  Hungary,  the  state  has  organized 
technical  education  in  agriculture  on  a  grand  scale. 
Nowhere  in  Europe,  I  learned,  has  there  been  such 
far-reaching  effort  to  improve  agriculture  through 
experimental  and  research  stations,  agricultural 
colleges,  high  schools,  and  common  schools.  There 
is  this  difference,  however:  Hungary  has  tried  to 
improve  agriculture  by  starting  at  the  top,  creating 
a  body  of  teachers  and  experts  who  are  expected 
in  turn  to  influence  a  id  direct  the  classes  below  them. 
Denmark  has  begun  at  the  bottom. 

One  of  the  principal  aims  of  the  Hungarian 
Government,  as  appears  from  a  report  by  the 
Minister  of  Agriculture,  was  "to  adapt  the  educa- 
tion to  the  needs  of  the  different  classes  and  take 
care,  at  the  same  time,  that  these  different  classes 
did  not  learn  too  much,  did  not  learn  anything  that 
would  unfit  them  for  their  station  in  life." 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  267 

I  notice,  for  example,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
close  the  agricultural  school  at  Debreczen,  which 
was  conducted  in  connection  with  an  agricultural 
college  at  the  same  place,  because,  as  the  report 
of  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  states,  "the  pupils 
of  this  school,  being  in  daily  contact  with  the  first- 
year  pupils  of  the  college,  attempted  to  imitate  their 
ways,  wanted  more  than  was  necessary  for  their 
social  position,  and  at  the  same  time  aimed  at  a 
position   they   were   unable   to   maintain." 

All  this  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  spirit  and 
method  of  the  Danish  rural  high  school,  which 
started  among  the  poorest  farming  class,  and  has 
grown,  year  by  year,  until  it  has  drawn  within  its 
influence  nearly  all  the  classes  in  the  rural  com- 
munity. In  this  school  it  happens  that  the  daughters 
of  the  peasant  and  of  the  nobleman  sometimes 
sit  together  on  the  same  bench,  and  that  the  sons 
of  the  landlord  and  of  the  tenant  frequently  work 
and  study  side  by  side,  sharing  the  personal  friend- 
ship of  their  teacher  and  not  infrequently  the 
hospitality  of  his  home. 

The  most  striking  thing  about  the  rural  high 
school  in  Denmark  is  that  it  is  neither  a  technical 
nor  an  industrial  school  and,  although  it  was  created 
primarily  for  the  peasant  people,  the  subject  of 
agriculture  is  almost  never  mentioned,  at  least  not 


268  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

with  the  purpose  of  giving  practical  or  technical 
education  in  that  subject. 

It  may  seem  strange  that,  in  a  school  for  farmers, 
nothing  should  be  said  about  agriculture,  and  I 
confess  that  it  took  some  time  for  me  to  see  the 
connection  between  this  sort  of  school  and  Den- 
mark's agricultural  prosperity.  It  seemed  to  me, 
as  I  am  sure  it  will  seem  to  most  other  persons, 
that  the  simplest  and  most  direct  way  to  apply 
education  to  agriculture  was  to  teach  agriculture 
in  the  schools. 

The  real  difference  between  the  Hungarian  and 
the  Danish  methods  of  dealing  with  this  problem 
is,  however,  in  the  spirit  rather  than  in  the  form. 
In  Hungary  the  purpose  of  the  schools  seems  to  be 
to  give  each  individual  such  training  as  it  is  believed 
will  fit  him  for  the  particular  occupation  which 
his  station  in  life  assigns  him,  and  no  more.  The 
government  decides.  In  other  words,  education 
is  founded  on  a  system  of  caste.  If  the  man  below 
learns  in  school  to  look  to  the  man  in  station  above 
him,  if  he  begins  to  dream  and  hope  for  something 
better  than  the  life  to  which  he  has  been  accustomed 
—  then,  a  social  and  political  principle  is  violated, 
and,  as  the  Commisioner  of  Agriculture  says,  "the 
government  is  not  deterred  from  issuing  energetic 
orders." 


SsSSSsEp^: 


Hi:   l  -"If    •.: ..: 


.  ii  :;   ■•  J 


BRICKLAYING  AT  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


BLACKSMITHING  AT  HAMPTON   INSTITUTE 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  269 

Of  course,  the  natural  result  of  such  measures 
is  to  increase  the  discontent.  Just  as  soon  as  any 
class  of  people  feel  that  privileges  granted  to  others 
are  denied  to  them,  immediately  these  privileges 
—  whether  they  be  the  opportunities  for  education, 
or  anything  else  —  assume  in  the  eyes  of  the  people 
to  whom  they  are  denied  a  new  importance  and 
value. 

The  result  of  this  policy  is  seen  in  emigration 
statistics.  I  doubt,  from  what  I  have  been  able 
to  learn,  whether  all  the  efforts  made  by  the  Hun- 
garian Government  in  the  way  of  agricultural 
instruction  have  done  very  much  to  allay  the  dis- 
content among  the  masses  of  the  farming  popula- 
tion. Thousands  of  these  Hungarian  peasants 
every  year  still  prefer  to  try  their  fortune  in  America, 
and  the  steady  exodus  of  the  farming  population 
continues. 

The  rural  high  school  in  Denmark  has  pursued 
just  the  opposite  policy.  It  has  steadily  sought 
to  stimulate  the  ambitions  and  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  peasant  people.  Instead,  however,  of 
compelling  the  ambitious  farmer's  boy,  who  wants 
to  know  something  about  the  world,  to  go  to  Amer- 
ica, to  the  ordinary  college,  or  to  the  city,  the  schools 
have  brought  the  learning  of  the  colleges  and  the 
advantages  of  the  city  to  the  country. 


270  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

The  most  interesting  and  remarkable  thing  about 
these  high  schools  is  the  success  that  they  have  had 
in  presenting  every  subject  that  an  educated  man 
should  know  about  in  such  a  form  as  will  make  it 
intelligible  and  interesting  to  country  boys  and 
girls  who  have  only  had,  perhaps,  the  rudiments 
of  a  common  school  education. 

The  teachers  in  these  country  high  schools  are 
genuine  scholars.  They  have  to  be,  for  the  reason 
that  the  greater  part  of  their  teaching  is  in  the 
form  of  lectures,  without  text-books  of  any  kind, 
and  their  success  depends  upon  the  skill  with  which 
they  can  present  their  subjects.  In  order  to  awaken 
interest  and  enthusiasm,  they  have  to  go  to  the 
sources  fontheir  knowlege. 

Most  of  the  teachers  whom  I  met  could  speak 
two  or  three  languages.  I  was  surprised  at  the 
knowledge  which  every  one  I  met  in  Denmark,  from 
the  King  and  Queen  to  the  peasants,  displayed  in 
American  affairs,  and  the  interest  they  showed  in 
the  progress  of  the  Negro  and  the  work  we  have 
been  doing  at  Tuskegee.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
wide  interests  which  occupy  the  teachers  in  these 
rural  schools,  I  found  one  of  them  engaged  in  trans- 
lating Prof.  William  James's  book  on  "Pragmatism" 
into  the  Danish  language. 

I  have  heard   it  said   repeatedly  since   I  was  in 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  271 

Denmark  that  the  Danish  people  as  a  whole  were 
better  educated  and  better  informed  than  any  other 
people  in  Europe.  Statistics  seem  to  bear  out  this 
statement;  for,  according  to  the  immigration  figures 
of  1900,  although  24.2  per  cent,  of  all  persons  over 
fourteen  years  of  age  coming  into  the  United  States 
as  immigrants  could  neither  read  nor  write,  only 
.8  per  cent,  of  the  immigrants  from  Scandinavia 
were  illiterate.  Of  the  Germans,  among  whom 
I  had  always  supposed  education  was  more  widely 
diffused  than  elsewhere  in  Europe,  5.8  per  cent, 
were  illiterate. 

Before  I  go  farther,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  give 
some  idea  of  what  these  rural  high  schools  look  like. 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  them  is  situated  about 
an  hour's  ride  from  Copenhagen,  near  the  little 
city  of  Roskilde.  It  stands  on  a  piece  of  rolling 
ground,  overlooking  a  bay,  where  the  little  fisher 
vessels  and  small  seafaring  craft  are  able  to  come 
far  inland,  almost  to  the  centre  of  the  island.  All 
around  are  wide  stretches  of  rich  farm  land,  dotted 
here  and  there  with  little  country  villages. 

There  is,  as  I  remember,  one  large  building  with 
a  wing  at  either  end.  In  one  of  these  wings  the 
head  master  of  the  school  lives,  and  in  the  other  is 
a  gymnasium.  In  between  are  the  school  rooms 
where    the    lectures    are    held.     Everything    about 


272  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the  school  is  arranged  in  a  neat  and  orderly  manner 
—  simple,  clean,  and  sweet  —  and  I  was  especially 
impressed  by  the  wholesome,  homelike  atmosphere 
of  the  place.  Teachers  and  pupils  eat  together 
at  the  same  table  and  meet  together  in  a  social 
way  in  the  evening.  Teachers  and  students  are 
thus  not  merely  friends;  they  are  in  a  certain  sense 
comrades. 

In  the  school  at  Roskilde  there  are  usually  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  students.  During  the  winter 
term  of  five  months  the  young  men  are  in  school; 
in  the  summer  the  young  women  take  their  turn. 
Pupils  pay  for  board  and  lodging  twenty  crowns,  a 
little  more  than  five  dollars  a  month,  and  for  tuition, 
twenty  crowns  the  first  month,  fifteen  the  second, 
ten  the  third,  five  the  fourth,  and  nothing  the  fifth. 
These  figures  are  themselves  an  indication  of  the 
thrift  as  well  as  the  simplicity  with  which  these 
schools  are  conducted.  Twenty  years  ago,  when 
they  were  first  started,  I  was  told  the  pupils  used 
to  sleep  together,  in  a  great  sleeping  room  on  straw 
mattresses,  and  eat  with  wooden  spoons  out  cf  a 
common  dish,  just  as  the  peasant  people  did  at 
that  time.  This  reminds  me  that  just  about  this 
same  time,  at  Tuskegee,  pupils  were  having  similar 
hardships.  For  one  thing,  I  recall  that,  in  those 
days,  the  food  for  the  whole  school  was  cooked  in 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  273 

one  large  iron  kettle  and  that  sometimes  we  had  to 
skip  a  meal  because  there  wasn't  anything  to  put 
in  the  kettle.  Since  that  time  conditions  have 
changed,  not  only  in  the  rural  high  schools  of  Den- 
mark, but  among  the  country  people.  At  the  present 
day,  if  not  every  peasant  cottage,  at  least  every 
cooperative  dairy  has  its  shower-bath.  The  small 
farmer,  who,  a  few  years  ago,  looked  upon  every 
innovation  wich  mistrust,  is  likely  now  to  have  his 
own  telephone  —  for  Denmark  has  more  telephones 
to  the  number  of  the  population  than  has  any  other 
country  in  Europe  —  and  every  country  village  has 
its  gymnasium  and  its  assembly  hall  for  public 
lectures. 

I  have  before  me,  on  my  desk,  a  school  plan 
showing  the  manner  in  which  the  day  is  disposed 
of.  School  begins  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  ends  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  with  two 
hours  rest  at  noon.  Two  thirds  of  the  time  of  the 
school  is  devoted  to  instruction  in  the  Danish 
mother-tongue  and  in  history.  The  rest  is  given 
to  arithmetic,  geography,  and  the  natural  sciences. 

It  is  peculiar  to  these  schools  that  most  of  the 
instruction  is  given  in  the  form  of  lectures. 
There  are  no  examinations  and  few  recitations. 
Not  only  the  natural  sciences,  but  even  the  higher 
mathematics,  are    taught   historically,   by   lectures. 


274  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

The  purpose  is  not  to  give  the  student  training  in 
the  use  of  these  sciences,  but  to  give  him  a  general 
insight  into  the  manner  in  which  different  problems 
have  arisen  and  of  the  way  in  which  the  solution 
of  them  has  widened  and  increased  our  knowledge 
of  the  world. 

In  the  Danish  rural  high  school,  emphasis  is 
put  upon  the  folk-songs,  upon  Danish  history  and 
the  old  Northern  mythology.  The  purpose  is  to 
emphasize,  in  opposition  to  the  Latin  and  Greek 
teaching  of  the  colleges,  the  value  of  the  history 
and  the  culture  of  the  Scandinavian  people;  and, 
incidentally,  to  instil  into  the  minds  of  the  pupils 
the  patriotic  conviction  that  they  have  a  place  and 
mission  of  their  own  among  the  people  of  the  world. 

There  are  several  striking  things  about  this 
system  of  rural  high  schools,  of  which  there  are  now 
120  in  Denmark.  The  first  thing  about  them  that 
impressed  me  was  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
had  their  origin.  In  the  beginning  the  rural  high 
schools  were  a  private  undertaking,  as  indeed  they 
are  still,  although  they  get  a  certain  amount  of 
support  from  the  State.  The  whole  scheme  was 
worked  out  by  a  few  courageous  individuals,  who 
were  sometimes  opposed,  but  frequently  assisted 
by  the  Government.  The  point  which  I  wish  to 
emphasize  is  that  they  did  not  spring  into  existence 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  275 

all  at  once,  but  that  they  grew  up  slowly  and  are 
still  growing.  It  took  long  years  of  struggles  to 
formulate  and  popularize  the  plans  and  methods 
which  are  now  in  use  in  these  schools.  In  this 
work  the  leading  figure  was  a  Lutheran  bishop, 
Nicolai  Frederick  Severen  Grundvig,  who  is  often 
referred  to  as  the  Luther  of  Denmark.  The  rural 
school  movement  grew  out  of  a  non-sectarian  reli- 
gious movement  and  was,  in  fact,  an  attempt  to 
revive  the  spiritual  life  of  the  masses  of  the  people. 

Rural  high  schools  were  established  as  early  as 
1844,  but  it  was  not  until  twenty  years  later,  when 
Denmark,  as  a  result  of  her  disastrous  war  with 
Prussia,  had  lost  one  third  of  her  richest  territory, 
that  the  rural  high  school  movement  began  to  gain 
ground.  It  was  at  that  time,  when  affairs  were 
at  their  lowest  ebb  in  Denmark,  that  Grundvig 
began  preaching  to  the  Danish  people  the  gospel  that 
what  had  been  lost  without,  must  be  regained  within; 
and  that  what  had  been  lost  in  battle  must  be  gained 
in  peaceful  development  of  the  national  resources. 

Bishop  Grundvig  saw  that  the  greatest  national 
resource  of  Denmark,  as  it  is  of  any  country,  was 
its  common  people.  The  schools  he  started  and 
the  methods  of  education  he  planned  were  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  the  masses.  They  were  an  attempt 
to  popularize  learning,  put  it  in  simple  language, 


276  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

rob   it  of   its   mystery   and   make   it   the   common 
property  of  the  common  people. 

Another  thing  peculiar  about  these  schools  is  that 
they  were  not  for  children,  but  for  older  students. 
Eighty  per  cent,  of  the  students  in  the  rural  high 
schools  are  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  years  of 
age;  12  per  cent,  are  more  than  twenty-five  years  of 
age  and  only  8  per  cent,  are  under  eighteen.  These 
schools,  are,  in  fact,  farmers'  colleges.  They  pre- 
suppose the  education  of  the  common  school.  The 
farmer's  son  and  the  farmer's  daughter,  before 
they  enter  the  rural  high  school,  have  had  the 
training  in  the  public  schools  and  have  had  practical 
schooling  in  the  work  of  the  farm  and  the  home. 
At  just  about  the  age  when  a  boy  or  a  girl  begins 
to  think  about  leaving  home  and  of  striking  out  in 
the  world  for  himself;  just  at  the  age  when  there 
comes,  if  ever,  to  a  youth  the  desire  to  know  some- 
thing about  the  larger  world  and  about  all  the 
mysteries  and  secrets  that  are  buried  away  in  books 
or  handed  down  as  traditions  in  the  schools  —  just 
at  this  time  the  boys  and  girls  are  sent  away  to 
spend  two  seasons  or  more  in  a  rural  high  school.  As 
a  rule  they  go,  not  to  the  school  in  their  neighbour- 
hood but  to  some  other  part  of  the  country.  There 
they  make  the  acquaintance  of  other  young  men  and 
women   who,    like  themselves,    have    come   directly 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  277 

from  the  farms,  and  this  intercourse  and  acquaint- 
ance helps  to  give  them  a  sense  of  common  interest 
and  to  build  up  what  the  socialists  call  a  "class 
consciousness."  All  of  this  experience  becomes  im- 
portant a  little  later  in  the  building  up  of  the  co- 
operative societies,  cooperative  dairies,  cooperative 
slaughter  houses,  societies  for  the  production  and 
sale  of  eggs,  for  cattle  raising  and  for  other  purposes. 

The  present  organization  of  agriculture  in  Den- 
mark is  indirectly  but  still  very  largely  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  rural  school. 

The  rural  high  school  came  into  existence,  as  I 
have  said,  as  the  result  of  a  religious  rather  than  of 
a  merely  social  or  economic  movement.  Different 
in  methods  and  in  outward  form  as  these  high 
schools  are  from  the  industrial  schools  for  the  Negro 
in  America,  they  have  this  in  common,  that  they 
are  non-sectarian,  but  in  the  broadest,  deepest 
sense  of  that  word,  religious.  They  seek,  not  merely 
to  broaden  the  minds,  but  to  raise  and  strengthen 
the  moral  life  of  masses  of  the  people.  This  peculiar 
character  of  the  Danish  rural  high  school  was  de- 
fined to  me  in  one  word  by  a  gentleman  I  met  in 
Denmark.     He  called  them  "inspirational." 

It  is  said  of  Grundvig  that  he  was  one  of  those 
who  did  not  look  for  salvation  merely  in  political 
freedom.     In  spite  of  this  fact,  the  rural  high  schools 


278  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

have  had  a  large  influence  upon  politics  in  Denmark. 
It  is  due  to  them,  although  they  have  carefully 
abstained  from  any  kind  of  political  agitation,  that 
Denmark,  under  the  influence  of  its  "Peasant 
Ministry,"  has  become  the  most  democratic  country 
in  Europe.  It  is  certainly  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  result  of  this  education  that  what,  a  compara- 
tively few  years  ago,  was  the  lowest  and  the  most 
oppressed  class  in  Denmark,  namely  the  small 
farmer,  has  become  the  controlling  power  in  the 
State,  as  seems  to  be  the  case  at  the  present  time. 

I  have  gone  to  some  length  to  describe  the  plans 
and  general  character  of  the  rural  high  schools 
because  they  are  the  earliest,  the  most  peculiar 
and  unusual  feature  in  Danish  rural  life  and  educa- 
tion, and  because,  although  conducted  in  the  same 
spirit,  they  are  different  in  form  and  methods  from 
the  industrial  schools  with  which  I  have  been  mainly 
interested  during  the  greater  part  of  my  life. 

The  high  schools,  however,  are  only  one  part  of 
the  Danish  system  of  rural  schools.  In  recent 
years  there  has  grown  up  side  by  side  with  the  rural 
high  school  another  type  of  school  for  the  technical 
training  in  agriculture  and  in  the  household  arts. 
For  example,  not  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the 
rural  high  school  which  I  visited  at  Roskilde,  there 
has  recently  been  erected  what  we  in  America  would 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  279 

call  an  industrial  school,  where  scientific  agri- 
culture, as  well  as  technical  training  in  homekeep- 
ing  are  given.  In  this  school,  young  men  and 
women  get  much  the  same  practical  training  that  is 
given  our  students  at  Tuskegee,  with  the  exception 
that  this  training  is  confined  to  agriculture  and 
housekeeping.  Besides,  there  is,  in  these  agricult- 
ural schools,  no  attempt  to  give  students  a  general 
education  as  is  the  case  with  the  industrial  schools 
in  the  South.  In  fact,  schools  like  Hampton  and 
Tuskegee  are  trying  to  do  for  their  students  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  what  is  done  in  Denmark  through 
two  distinct  types  of  school. 

I  found  this  school,  like  its  neighbour  the  high 
school,  admirably  situated,  surrounded  by  beauti- 
ful gardens  in  which  the  students  raised  their  own 
vegetables.  In  the  kitchen,  the  young  women 
learned  to  prepare  the  meals  and  to  set  the  tables. 
I  was  interested  to  see  also  that,  in  the  whole  or- 
ganization of  the  school  there  was  an  attempt  to 
preserve  the  simplicity  of  country  life.  In  the  fur- 
niture, for  example,  there  was  an  attempt  to  pre- 
serve the  solid  simplicity  and  quaint  artistic  shapes 
with  which  the  wealthier  peasants  of  fifty  or  a 
hundred  years  ago  furnished  their  homes.  Dr. 
Robert  E.  Park,  my  companion  on  my  trip  through 
Europe,  told  me  when  I  visited  this  school  that  he 


28o  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

found  one  of  the  professors  at  work  in  the  garden 
wearing  the  wooden  shoes  that  used  to  be  worn 
everywhere  in  the  country  by  the  peasant  people. 
This  man  had  travelled  widely,  had  studied  in  Ger- 
many, where  he  had  taken  a  degree  in  his  particular 
specialty  at  one  of  the  agricultural  colleges. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  part 
of  my  visit  was  the  time  that  I  spent  at  what  is 
called  a  husmand's  or  cotter's  school,  located  at 
Ringsted  and  founded  by  N.  J.  Nielsen-Klodskov 
in  1902.  At  this  school  I  saw  such  an  exhibition 
of  vegetables,  grains,  and  especially  of  apples,  as  I 
think  I  had  never  seen  before,  certainly  not  at 
any  agricultural  school. 

I  wish  I  had  opportunity  to  describe  in  detail 
all  that  I  saw  and  learned  about  education  and  the 
possibilities  of  country  life  in  the  course  of  my  visit 
to  this  interesting  school.  What  impressed  me  most 
with  regard  to  it  and  to  the  others  that  I  visited, 
was  the  way  in  which  the  different  types  of  schools 
in  Denmark  have  succeeded  in  working  into  prac- 
tical harmony  with  one  another;  the  way  also,  in 
which  each  in  its  separate  way  had  united  with  the 
other  to  uplift,  vivify,  and  inspire  the  life  and  work 
of  the  country  people. 

For  example,  the  school  at  Ringsted,  in  addition 
to  the  winter  course  in  farming  for  men  and  the 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  281 

summer  school  in  household  arts  for  women,  offers, 
just  as  we  do  at  Tuskegee,  a  short  course  to  which 
the  older  people  are  invited.  The  courses  are 
divided  between  the  men  and  the  women,  the 
men's  course  coming  in  the  winter  and  the  women's 
course  in  the  summer.  During  the  period  of  instruc- 
tion, which  lasts  eleven  days,  these  older  people 
live  in  the  school,  just  as  the  younger  students  do 
and  gain  thus  the  benefit  of  an  intimate  associa- 
tion with  each  other  and  with  their  teachers.  To 
illustrate  to  what  extent  this  school  and  the  others 
like  it  have  reached  and  touched  the  people,  I 
will  quote  from  a  letter  written  to  me  by  the  founder. 
He  says:  "The  Keorehave  Husmandskole  (cotter's 
school)  is  the  first  of  its  kind  in  Denmark.  It  is 
a  private  undertaking  and  the  buildings  erected 
since  1902  are  worth  about  400,000  crowns 
($100,000).  During  the  seven  years  in  which  it 
has  been  in  operation  631  men  and  603  women  have 
had  training  for  six  months.  In  addition  3,205 
men  and  women  have  attended  the  eleven-day 
courses." 

In  addition  to  the  short  courses  in  agriculture 
and  housekeeping,  offered  by  the  school  at  Ringsted, 
some  of  the  rural  high  schools  hold,  every  fall,  great 
public  assembles  like  our  Chautauquas,  which  last 
from  a  few  days  to  a  week  and  are  attended  by  men . 


282  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

and  women  of  the  rural  districts.  At  these  meet- 
ings there  are  public  lectures  on  historical,  literary 
and  religious  subjects.  In  the  evening  there  are 
music,  singing,  and  dancing,  and  other  forms  of 
amusement.  These  annual  assemblies,  held  under 
the  direction  of  the  rural  high  schools,  have  largely 
taken  the  place  of  the  former  annual  harvest-home 
festivals  in  which  there  was  much  eating  and  drink- 
ing, as  I  understand,  but  very  little  that  was  educa- 
tional or  uplifting.  In  addition  to  these  yearly 
meetings,  which  draw  together  people  from  a  dis- 
tance, there  are  monthly  meetings  which  are  held 
either  in  the  high  school  buildings,  or  in  the  village 
assembly  buildings,  or  in  the  halls  connected  with 
the  village  gymnasiums.  In  the  cities  these  meet- 
ings are  sometimes  held  in  the  "High  School  Homes" 
as  they  are  called,  which  serve  the  double  purpose  of 
places  for  the  meetings  of  young  men's  and  young 
women's  societies  and  at  the  same  time  as  cheap 
and  home-like  hotels  for  the  travelling  country 
people. 

In  this  way  the  rural  high  schools  have  extended 
their  influence  to  every  part  of  the  country,  making 
the  life  on  the  farm  attractive,  and  enabling  Den- 
mark to  set  before  the  world  an  example  of  what  a 
simple,  wholesome,  and  beautiful  country  life  can 
be. 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  283 

No  doubt  there  are  in  the  country  life  of  Den- 
mark, as  of  other  countries,  some  things  that  cast 
a  shadow  here  and  there  on  the  bright  picture  I 
have  drawn.  New  problems  always  spring  up  out 
of  the  solution  of  the  old  ones.  No  matter  how 
much  has  been  accomplished  those  who  know  con- 
ditions best  will  inevitably  feel  that  their  work  has 
just  been  begun.  However  that  may  be,  I  do  not 
believe  there  will  be  found  anywhere  a  better  illus- 
tration of  the  possibilities  of  education  than  in  the 
results  achieved  by  the  rural  schools  of  Denmark. 

One  of  the  things  that  one  hears  a  great  deal  of 
talk  about  in  America  is  the  relative  value  of  cultural 
and  vocational  education.  I  do  not  think  that  I 
clearly  understood  until  I  went  to  Denmark  what 
a  "cultural"  education  was.  I  had  gotten  the  idea, 
from  what  I  had  seen  of  the  so-called  "cultural"  edu- 
cation in  America,  that  culture  was  always  asso- 
ciated with  Greek  and  Latin,  and  that  people  who 
advocated  it  believed  there  was  some  mysterious, 
almost  magical  power  which  was  to  be  gotten  from 
the  study  of  books,  or  from  the  study  of  something 
ancient  and  foreign,  far  from  the  common  and 
ordinary  experiences  of  men.  I  found,  in  Denmark, 
schools  in  which  almost  no  text-books  are  used, 
which  were  more  exclusively  cultural  than  any  I 
had  ever  seen  or  heard  of. 


284  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  had  gotten  the  impression  thatwhatweordinarily 
called  culture  was  something  for  the  few  people 
who  are  able  to  go  to  college,  and  that  it  was  some- 
how bottled  up  and  sealed  in  abstract  language 
and  in  phrases  which  it  took  long  years  of  study- 
to  master.  I  found  in  Denmark  real  scholars 
engaged  in  teaching  ordinary  country  people,  mak- 
ing it  their  peculiar  business  to  strip  the  learning 
of  the  colleges  of  all  that  was  technical  and  abstract 
and  giving  it,  through  the  medium  of  the  common 
speech,  to  the  common  people. 

Cultural  education  has  usually  been  associated 
in  my  mind  with  the  learning  of  some  foreign  lan- 
guage, with  learning  the  history  and  traditions  of 
some  other  people.  I  found  in  Denmark  a  kind  of 
education  which,  although  as  far  as  it  went  touched 
every  subject  and  every  land  that  it  was  the  business 
of  the  educated  man  to  know  about,  sought  es- 
pecially to  inspire  an  interest  and  enthusiasm  in  the 
art,  the  traditions,  the  language,  and  the  history 
of  Denmark  and  in  the  people  by  whom  the  students 
were  surrounded.  I  saw  that  a  cultural  education 
could  be  and  should  be  a  kind  of  education  that 
helps  to  awaken,  enlighten,  and  inspire  interest, 
enthusiasm,  and  faith  in  one's  self,  in  one's  race 
and  in  mankind;  that  it  need  not  be,  as  it  sometimes 
has  been  in  Denmark  and  elsewhere,  a  kind  of  educa- 


WHAT  I  LEARNED  IN  DENMARK  285 

tion  that  robs  its  pupils  of  their  natural  independ- 
ence, makes  them  feel  that  something  distant, 
foreign,  and  mysterious  is  better  and  higher  than 
what  is  familiar  and  close  at  hand. 

I  have  never  been  especially  interested  in  discuss- 
ing the  question  of  the  particular  label  that  should 
be  attached  to  any  form  of  education;  I  have  never 
taken  much  interest,  for  example,  in  discussing 
whether  the  form  of  education  which  we  have  been 
giving  our  students  at  Tuskegee  was  cultural,  voca- 
tional, or  both.  I  have  been  only  interested  in 
seeing  that  it  was  the  kind  that  was  needed  by  the 
masses  of  the  people  we  were  trying  to  reach,  and 
that  the  work  was  done  as  well  as  possible  under 
the  circumstances.  From  what  I  have  learned  in 
Denmark,  I  have  discovered  that  what  has  been 
done,  for  example,  by  Dr.  R.  H.  Boyd  in  teaching 
the  Negro  people  to  buy  Negro  instead  of  white 
dolls  for  their  children,  "in  order,"  as  Dr.  Boyd 
says,  "to  teach  the  children  to  admire  and  respect 
their  own  type";  that  what  has  been  done  at  Fisk 
University  to  inspire  in  the  Negro  a  love  of  folk- 
songs; that  what  has  been  done  at  Tuskegee  in  our 
annual  Negro  Conferences,  and  in  our  National 
Business  League,  to  awaken  an  interest  and  en- 
thusiasm in  the  masses  of  the  people  for  the  common 
life  and  progress  of  the  race  has  done  more  good, 


286  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

and,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  been  more  cultural 
than  all  the  Greek  and  Latin  that  have  ever  been 
studied  by  all  Negroes  in  all  the  colleges  in  the 
country. 

For  culture  of  this  kind  spreads  over  more  ground; 
it  touches  more  people  and  touches  them  more 
deeply.  My  study  of  the  Danish  rural  schools  has 
not  only  taught  me  what  may  be  done  to  inspire 
and  foster  a  national  and  racial  spirit,  but  it  has 
shown  how  closely  interwoven  are  the  moral  and 
material  conditions  of  the  people,  so  that  each  man 
responds  to  and  reflects  the  progress  of  every  other 
man  in  a  way  to  bring  about  a  healthful,  wholesome 
condition  of  national  and  racial  life. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    MISTAKES    AND   THE   FUTURE    OF    NEGRO 
EDUCATION 

DURING  the  thirty  years  I  have  been  engaged 
in  Negro  education  in  the  South  my  work 
has  brought  me  into  contact  with  many 
different  kinds  of  Negro  schools.  I  have  visited 
these  schools  in  every  part  of  the  South  and  have 
had  an  opportunity  to  study  their  work  and  learn 
something  of  their  difficulties  as  well  as  of  their 
successes.  During  the  last  five  years,  for  example, 
I  have  taken  time  from  my  other  work  to  make  ex- 
tended trips  of  observation  through  eight  different 
states,  looking  into  the  condition  of  the  schools  and 
saying  a  word,  wherever  I  went,  in  their  interest. 
I  have  had  opportunities,  as  I  went  about,  to  note 
not  merely  the  progress  that  has  been  made  inside 
the  school  houses,  but  to  observe,  also,  the  effects 
which  the  different  types  of  schools  have  had  upon 
the  homes  and  in  the  communities  by  which  they 
are    surrounded. 

287 


288  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

Considering  all  that  I  have  seen  and  learned  of 
Negro  education  in  the  way  I  have  described,  it  has 
occurred  to  me  that  I  could  not  do  better  in  the 
concluding  reminiscences  of  my  own  larger  educa- 
tion than  give  some  sort  of  summary  statement,  not 
only  of  what  has  been  accomplished,  but  what  seems 
to  be  the  present  needs  and  prospects  of  Negro  edu- 
cation in  general  for  the  Southern  States.  In  view 
also  of  the  fact  that  I  have  gained  the  larger  part  of 
my  own  larger  education  in  what  I  have  been  able 
to  do  for  this  cause,  the  statement  may  not  seem 
out  of  place  here.  Let  me  then,  first  of  all, 
say  that  never  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  a 
people,  coming  so  lately  out  of  slavery,  made  such 
efforts  to  catch  up  with  and  attain  the  highest  and 
best  in  the  civilization  about  them;  never  has 
such  a  people  made  the  same  amount  of  progress 
in  the  same  time  as  is  the  case  of  the  Negro  people 
of  America. 

At  the  same  time,  I  ought  to  add,  also,  that  never 
in  the  history  of  the  world  has  there  been  a  more  gen- 
erous effort  on  the  part  of  one  race  to  help  civilize 
and  build  up  another  than  has  been  true  of  the  Amer- 
ican white  man  and  the  Negro.  I  say  this  because 
it  should  be  remembered  that,  if  the  white  man  in 
America  was  responsible  for  bringing  the  Negro  here 
and  holding  him  in  slavery,  the  white  man  in  America 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION     289 

was  equally  responsible  for  giving  him  his  freedom 
and  the  opportunities  by  which  he  has  been  able 
to  make  the  tremendous  progress  of  the  last  forty- 
eight  years. 

In  spite  of  this  fact,  in  looking  over  and  considering 
conditions  of  Negro  education  in  the  South  to-day, 
not  so  much  with  reference  to  the  past  as  to  the  fu- 
ture, I  am  impressed  with  the  imperfect,  incomplete, 
and  unsatisfactory  condition  in  which  that  educa- 
tion now  is.  I  fear  that  there  is  much  misconcep- 
tion, both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  in  regard 
to  the  actual  opportunities  for  education  which  the 
Negro  has. 

In  the  first  place,  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said 
about  it,  the  mass  of  the  Negro  people  has  never 
had,  either  in  the  common  schools  or  in  the  Negro 
colleges  in  the  South,  an  education  in  the  same  sense 
as  the  white  people  in  the  Northern  States  have  had 
an  education.  Without  going  into  details,  let  me 
give  a  few  facts  in  regard  to  the  Negro  schools  of 
so-called  higher  learning  in  the  South.  There  are 
twenty-five  Negro  schools  which  are  ordinarily 
classed  as  colleges  in  the  South.  They  have,  alto- 
gether, proper  y  and  endowments,  according  to  the 
report  of  the  United  States  commissioner  of  educa- 
tion, of  $7,993,028.  There  are  eleven  single  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning  in  the  Northern  States,  each 


ago  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

of  which  has  property  and  endowment  equal  to  or 
greater  than  all  the  Negro  colleges  in  the  South. 
There  are,  for  instance,  five  colleges  or  universities 
in  the  North  every  one  of  which  has  property  and  en- 
dowments amounting  to  more  than  #20,000,000; 
there  are  three  universities  which  together  have 
property  and  endowments  amounting  to  nearly 
#100,000,000. 

The  combined  annual  income  of  twenty-four 
principal  Negro  colleges  is  #1,048,317.  There  are 
fifteen  white  schools  that  have  a  yearly  income  of 
from  one  million  to  five  million  dollars  each.  In 
fact,  there  is  one  single  institution  of  learning  in  the 
North  which,  in  the  year  of  1909,  had  an  income, 
nearly  twice  as  large  as  the  combined  income  of  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  Negro  colleges,  in- 
dustrial schools,  and  other  private  institutions  of 
learning  of  which  the  commissioner  of  education 
has  any  report.  These  facts  indicate,  I  think,  that 
however  numerous  the  Negro  institutions  of  higher 
learning  may  be,  the  ten  million  Negroes  in  the 
United  States  are  not  getting  from  them,  either 
in  quality  or  in  quantity,  an  education  such  as  they 
ought  to  have. 

Let  me  speak,  however,  of  conditions  as  I  have 
found  them  in  some  of  the  more  backward  Negro 
communities.     In    my    own    state,    for    example, 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  291 

there  are  communities  in  which  Negro  teachers  are 
now  being  paid  not  more  than  from  fifteen  dollars 
to  seventeen  dollars  a  month  for  services  covering 
a  period  of  three  or  four  months  in  the  year.  As 
I  stated  in  a  recent  open  letter  to  the  Montgomery 
Advertiser,  more  money  is  paid  for  Negro  convicts 
than  for  Negro  teachers.  About  forty-six  dollars 
a  month  is  now  being  paid  for  first-class,  able-bodied 
Negro  convicts,  thirty-six  dollars  for  second-class, 
and  twenty-six  dollars  for  third-class,  and  this  is  for 
twelve  months  in  the  year.  This  will,  perhaps, 
at  least  suggest  the  conditions  that  exist  in  some  of 
the  Negro  rural  schools. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  conditions  are  as  bad 
everywhere  as  these  that  I  refer  to.  Nevertheless, 
when  one  speaks  "of  the  results  of  Negro  education" 
it  should  be  remembered  that,  so  far  as  concerns 
the  masses  of  the  Negro  people,  education  has  never 
yet  been  really  tried. 

One  of  the  troubles  with  Negro  education  at  the 
present  time  is  that  there  are  no  definite  standards 
of  education  among  the  different  Negro  schools. 
It  is  not  possible  to  tell,  for  instance,  from  the  name 
of  an  institution,  whether  it  is  teaching  the  ordinary 
common  school  branches,  Greek  and  Latin,  or  car- 
pentry, blacksmithing,  and  sewing.  More  than  that, 
there  is  no   accepted    standard  as  to    the   methods 


292  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

or  efficiency  of  the  teaching  in  these  schools.  A 
student  may  be  getting  a  mere  smattering,  not 
even  learning  sufficient  reading  and  writing  to  be 
able  to  read  with  comfort  a  book  or  a  newspaper. 
He  may  be  getting  a  very  good  training  in  one  sub- 
ject and  almost  nothing  in  some  other.  A  boy  enter- 
ing such  a  school  does  not  know  what  he  is  going 
for,  and,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  he  will  come  away 
without  knowing  what  he  got.  In  many  cases,  the 
diploma  that  the  student  carries  home  with  him 
at  the  conclusion  of  his  course  is  nothing  less  than  a 
gold  brick.  It  has  made  him  believe  that  he  has 
gotten  an  education,  when  he  has  actually  never 
had  an  opportunity  to  find  out  what  an  education  is. 
I  have  in  mind  a  young  man  who  came  to  us 
from  one  of  those  little  colleges  to  which  I  have 
referred  where  he  had  studied  Greek,  Latin,  German, 
astronomy,  and,  among  other  things,  stenography. 
He  found  that  he  could  not  use  his  Greek  and  Latin 
and  that  he  had  not  learned  enough  German  to  be 
able  to  use  the  language,  so  he  came  to  us  as  a  sten- 
ographer. Unfortunately,  he  was  not  much  better 
in  stenography  and  in  English  than  he  was  in  Ger- 
man. After  he  had  failed  as  a  stenographer,  he 
tried  several  other  things,  but  because  he  had  gone 
through  a  college  and  had  a  diploma,  he  could  never 
bring  himself  to  the  point  of  fitting  himself  to  do 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  293 

well  any  one  thing.  The  consequence  was  that  he 
went  wandering  about  the  country,  always  dissatis- 
fied and  unhappy,  never  giving  satisfaction  to  him- 
self or  to  his  employers. 

Although  this  young  man  was  not  able  to  write 
a  letter  in  English  without  making  grammatical 
errors  or  errors  of  some  kind  or  other,  the  last  time 
I  heard  of  him  he  was  employed  as  a  teacher  of 
business,  in  fact,  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  busi- 
ness department  in  one  of  the  little  colleges  to 
which  I  have  referred.  He  was  not  able  to  use  his 
stenography  in  a  well-equipped  office,  but  he  was 
able  to  teach  stenography  sufficiently  well  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  business  course  as  given  in  the 
kind  of  Negro  college  of  which  there  are,  unfortu- 
nately, too  many  in  the  South. 

Now,  there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  this 
young  man  —  excepting  his  education.  He  was 
industrious,  ambitious,  absolutely  trustworthy,  and, 
if  he  had  been  able  to  stick  at  any  one  position  long 
enough  to  learn  to  do  the  work  required  of  him  well, 
he  would  have  made,  in  my  opinion,  a  very  valuable 
man.  As  it  was,  his  higher  education  spoiled  him. 
In  going  through  college  he  had  been  taught  that  he 
was  getting  an  education  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  really  had  no  education  worth  the  mention. 

One  of  the  mistakes  that  Negro  schools  have  fre- 


294  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

quently  made  has  been  the  effort  to  cover,  in  some 
sort  of  way,  the  whole  school  curriculum  from  the 
primary,  through  the  college,  taking  their  students, 
as  a  friend  of  mine  once  said,  "from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave."  The  result  is  that  many  of  the  Negro  col- 
leges have  so  burdened  themselves  with  the  work  of 
an  elementary  grade  that  they  are  actually  doing 
no  college  work  at  all,  although  they  still  keep  up  the 
forms  and  their  students  still  speak  of  themselves 
as  "college  students." 

In  this  way  nearly  every  little  school  calling  itself 
a  college  has  attempted  to  set  up  a  complete  school 
system  of  its  own,  reaching  from  the  primary  grade 
up  through  the  university.  These  schools,  having 
set  themselves  an  impossible  task,  particularly  in 
view  of  the  small  means  that  they  have  at  their 
command,  it  is  no  wonder  that  their  work  is  often 
badly  done. 

I  remember  visiting  one  of  these  institutions  in 
the  backwoods  district  of  one  of  the  Southern  States. 
The  school  was  carried  on  in'an  old  ramshackle  build- 
ing, which  had  been  erected  by  the  students  and 
the  teachers,  although  it  was  evident  that  not  one 
of  them  had  more  than  the  most  primitive  notion 
of  how  to  handle  a  saw  or  a  square. 

The  wind  blew  through  the  building  from  end  to 
end.     Heaps  of  Bibles,  which  had  been  presented 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  295 

to  the  school  by  some  friends,  were  piled  up  on  the 
floor  in  one  corner  of  the  building.  The  dormitory 
was  in  the  most  disorderly  condition  one  could  pos- 
sibly imagine.  Half  of  the  building  had  been  burned 
away  and  had  never  been  rebuilt.  Broken  beds 
and  old  mattresses  were  piled  helter-skelter  about 
in  the  rooms.  What  showed  as  well  as  anything 
the  total  incompetency  of  everybody  connected  with 
the  school  were  the  futile  efforts  that  had  been  made 
to  obtain  a  supply  of  drinking  water.  The  yard 
around  the  school,  which  they  called  the  "campus," 
was  full  of  deep  and  dangerous  holes,  where  some  one 
had  attempted  at  different  times  to  dig  a  well  but 
failed,  because,  as  was  evident  enough,  he  had  not 
the  slightest  idea  of  how  the  work  should  have  been 
done. 

At  the  time  I  was  there  the  school  was  supplied 
with  water  from  an  old  swamp  in  the  neighbourhood, 
but  the  president  of  the  college  explained  to  me  an 
elaborate  plan  which  he  had  evolved  for  creating 
an  artificial  lake  and  this  enterprise,  he  said,  had  the 
added  advantage  of  furnishing  work  for  the  students. 

When  I  asked  this  man  in  regard  to  his  course  of 
study,  he  handed  me  a  great  sheet  of  paper,  about 
fifteen  inches  wide  and  two  feet  long,  filled  with 
statements  that  he  had  copied  from  the  curricula 
of  all  sorts  of  different  schools,  including  theological 


296  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

seminaries,  universities,  and  industrial  schools. 
From  this  sheet,  it  appeared  that  he  proposed  to 
teach  in  his  school  everything  from  Hebrew  to 
telegraphy.  In  fact,  it  would  have  taken  at  least 
two  hundred  teachers  to  do  all  the  work  that  he  had 
laid  out. 

When  I  asked  him  why  it  was  that  he  did  not  con- 
fine himself  within  the  limits  of  what  the  students 
needed  and  of  what  he  would  be  able  to  teach,  he 
explained  to  me  that  he  had  found  that  some  people 
wanted  one  kind  of  education  and  some  people 
wanted  another.  As  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he 
took  a  liberal  view  and  was  willing  to  give  anybody 
anything  that  was  wanted.  If  his  students  wanted 
industrial  education,  theological  education,  or  col- 
lege education,    he  proposed  to  give  it  to  them. 

I  suggested  to  him  that  the  plan  was  liberal 
enough,  but  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  carry 
it  out.  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "it  may  be  impossible 
justnow, but  I  believe  in  aiming  high."  The  pathetic 
thing  about  it  all  was  that  this  man  and  the  people 
with  whom  he  had  surrounded  himself  were  per- 
fectly sincere  in  what  they  were  trying  to  do.  They 
simply  did  not  know  what  an  education  was  or  what 
it  was  for. 

We  have  in  the  South,  in  general,  five  types  of 
Negro  schools.     There  are  (i)  the  common  schools, 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  297 

supported  in  large  part  by  state  funds  supplemented 
in  many  cases  by  contributions  from  the  coloured 
people;  (2)  academies  and  so-called  colleges,  or 
universities,  supported  partly  by  different  Negro 
religious  denominations  and  partly  by  the  contri- 
butions of  philanthropic  persons  and  organizations; 

(3)  the  state  normal,  mechanical,  and  agricultural 
colleges,  supported  in  part  by  the  state  and  in  part 
by   funds   provided    by   the   Federal   Government; 

(4)  medical  schools,  which  are  usually  attached  to 
some  one  or  other  of  the  colleges,  but  really  main- 
tain a  more  or  less  independent  existence;  (5) 
industrial  schools,  On  the  model  of  Hampton  and 
Tuskegee. 

Although  these  schools  exist,  in  many  cases,  side 
by  side,  most  of  them  are  attempting  to  do,  more  or 
less,  the  work  of  all  the  others.  Because  every 
school  is  attempting  to  do  the  work  of  every  other, 
the  opportunities  for  cooperation  and  team  work 
are  lost.  Instead  one  finds  them  frequently  quar- 
relling and  competing  among  themselves  both  for 
financial  support  and  for  students.  The  colleges 
and  the  academies  frequently  draw  students  away 
from  the  public  schools.  The  state  agricultural 
schools,  supported  in  part  by  the  National  Govern- 
ment, are  hardly  distinguishable  from  some  of  the 
theological    seminaries.      Instead    of    working    in 


298  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

cooperation  with  one  another  and  with  the  public 
authorities  in  building  up  the  public  schools,  thus 
bringing  the  various  institutions  of  learning  into 
some  sort  of  working  harmony  and  system,  it  not 
infrequently  happens  that  the  different  schools  are 
spending  time  and  energy  in  trying  to  hamper  and 
injure  one  another. 

We  have  had  some  experience  at  Tuskegee  of  this 
lack  of  cooperation  among  the  different  types  of 
Negro  schools.  For  some  years  we  have  employed 
as  teachers  a  large  number  of  graduates,  not  only 
from  some  of  the  better  Negro  colleges  in  the  South, 
but  from  some  of  the  best  colleges  in  the  North  as 
well.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Tuskegee  offers  a 
larger  market  for  the  services  of  these  college  grad- 
uates than  they  are  able  to  find  elsewhere,  I 
have  yet  to  find  a  single  graduate  who  has  come  to 
us  from  any  of  these  colleges  in  the  South  who  has 
made  any  study  of  the  aims  or  purposes  of  indus- 
trial education.  And  this  is  true,  although  some  of 
the  colleges  claim  tjiat  a  large  part  of  their  work 
consists  in  preparing  teachers  for  work  in  indus- 
trial schools. 

Not  only  has  it  been  true  that  graduates  of  these 
colleges  have  had  no  knowledge  or  preparation 
which  fitted  them  for  teaching  in  an  industrial 
school,  but   in  many  cases,  they  have  come  to  us 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  299 

with  the  most  distorted  notions  of  what  these  in- 
dustrial schools  were  seeking  to  do. 

Perhaps  the  larger  propor  :on  of  the  college  grad- 
uates go,  when  they  leave  college,  as  teachers  into 
the  city  or  rural  schools.  Nevertheless,  there  is  the 
same  lack  of  cooperation  between  the  colleges  and 
the  public  schools  that  I  have  described  as  existing 
between  the  colleges  and  the  industrial  schools. 
It  is  a  rare  thing,  so  far  as  my  experience  goes,  for 
students  in  the  Negro  colleges  to  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  any  systematic  study  of  the  actual 
condition  and  needs  of  the  schools  or  communities 
in  which  they  are  employed  after  they  graduate. 
Instead  of  working  out  and  teaching  methods  of 
connecting  the  school  with  life,  thus  making  it  a  cen- 
tre and  a  source  of  inspiration  that  might  gradually 
transform  the  communities  about  them,  these  col- 
leges have  too  frequently  permitted  their  graduates 
to  go  out  with  the  idea  that  their  diploma  was  a 
sort  of  patent  of  nobility,  and  that  the  possessor  of 
it  was  a  superior  being  who  was  making  a  sacrifice 
in  merely  bestowing  himself  or  herself  as  a  teacher 
upon  the  communities  to  which  he  or  she  was  called. 

One  of  the  chief  hindrances  to  the  progress  of 
Negro  education  in  the  public  schools  in  the  South 
is  in  my  opinion  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Negro 
colleges  in  which  so  many  of  the  teachers  are  pre- 


300  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

pared  have  not  realized  the  importance  of  convinc- 
ing the  Southern  white  people  that  education  makes 
the  same  improvement,  in  the  Negro  that  it  does  in 
the  white  man;  makes  him  so  much  more  useful  in 
his  labour,  so  much  better  a  citizen,  and  so  much 
more  dependable  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  spend  the  money  to  give  him  an 
education.  As  long  as  the  masses  of  the  Southern 
white  people  remain  unconvinced  by  the  results  of 
the  education  which  they  see  about  them  that  edu- 
cation makes  the  Negro  a  better  man  or  woman,  so 
long  will  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  who  are 
dependent  upon  the  public  schools  for  their  in- 
struction remain  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
ignorance. 

Some  of  the  schools  of  the  strictly  academic  type 
have  declared  that  their  purpose  in  sticking  to  the 
old-fashioned  scholastic  studies  was  to  make  of  their 
students  Christian  gentlemen.  Of  course,  every 
man  and  every  woman  should  be  a  Christian  and,  if 
possible,  a  gentleman  or  a  lady;  but  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  study  Greek  or  Latin  to  be  a  Christian. 
More  than  that,  a  school  that  is  content  with  merely 
turning. out  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are  not  at  the 
same  time  something  else  —  who  are  not  lawyers, 
doctors,  business  men,  bankers,  carpenters,  farmers, 
teachers,   not   even   housewives,  but  merely  ladies 


■8 


COLLIS  P.   HUNTINGTON  MEMORIAL  BUILDING 
Tuskegee  Institute 


■ 


BMP1  !aftt  -• 

... 

■ 

■ . '   i 
•  .  ■ 

THE  OFFICE  BUILDING 

In  which  arc  located  the  administrative  offices  of  the  school, 

the  Institute  Bank  and  the  Institute  Post  Office 


4 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION    301 

and  gentlemen  —  such  a  school  is  bound,  in  my 
estimation,  to  be  more  or  less  of  a  failure.  There  is 
no  room  in  this  country,  and  never  has  been,  for 
the  class  of  people  who  are  merely  gentlemen,  and, 
if  I  may  judge  from  what  I  have  lately  seen  abroad, 
the  time  is  coming  when  there  will  be  no  room  in 
any  country  for  the  class  of  people  who  are  merely 
gentlemen  —  for  people,  in  other  words,  who  are 
not  fitted  to  perform  some  definite  service  for  the 
country  or  the  community  in  which  they  live. 

In  the  majority  of  cases  I  have  found  that  the 
smaller  Negro  colleges  have  been  modelled  on  the 
schools  started  in  the  South  by  the  anti-slavery 
people  from  the  North  directly  after  the  war. 
Perhaps  there  were  too  many  institutions  started 
at  that  time  for  teaching  Greek  and  Latin,  consider- 
ing that  the  foundation  had  not  yet  been  laid  in  a 
good  common-school  system.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  people  who  started  these 
schools  had  a  somewhat  different  purpose  from  that 
for  which  schools  ordinarily  exist  to-day.  They 
believed  that  it  was  necessary  to  complete  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  Negro  by  demonstrating  to  the  world 
that  the  black  man  was  just  as  able  to  learn  from 
books  as  the  white  man,  a  thing  that  had  been  fre- 
quently denied  during  the  long  anti-slavery  con- 
troversy. 


3o2  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

I  think  it  is  safe  to  say  that  that  has  now  been 
demonstrated.  What  remains  to  be  shown  is  that 
the  Negro  can  go  as  far  as  the  white  man  in  using  his 
education,  of  whatever  kind  it  may  be,  to  make 
himself  a  more  useful  and  valuable  member  of  so- 
ciety. Especially  is  it  necessary  to  convince  the 
Southern  white  man  that  education,  in  the  case  of 
the  coloured  man,  is  a  necessary  step  in  the  progress 
and  upbuilding,  not  merely  of  the  Negro,  but  of  the 
South. 

It  should  be  remembered  in  this  connection  that 
there  are  thousands  of  white  men  in  the  South  who 
are  perfectly  friendly  to  the  Negro  and  would  like 
to  do  something  to  help  him,  but  who  have  not  yet 
been  convinced  that  education  has  actually  done  the 
Negro  any  good.  Nothing  will  change  their  minds 
but  an  opportunity  to  see  results  for  themselves. 

The  reason  more  progress  has  not  been  made  in 
this  direction  is  that  the  schools  planted  in  the  South 
by  the  Northern  white  people  have  remained  —  not 
always  through  their  own  fault  to  be  sure  —  in 
a  certain  sense,  alien  institutions.  They  have  not 
considered,  in  planning  their  courses  of  instruction, 
the  actual  needs  either  of  the  Negro  or  of  the  South. 
Not  infrequently  young  men  and  women  have  gotten 
so  out  of  touch  during  the  time  that  they  were  in 
these  schools  with  the  actual  conditions  and  needs 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  303 

of  the  Negro  and  the  South  that  it  has  taken  years 
before  they  were  able  to  get  back  to  earth  and  find 
places  where  they  would  be  useful  and  happy  in 
some  form  or  other  of  necessary  and  useful  labour. 

Sometimes  it  has  happened  that  Negro  college 
students,  as  a  result  of  the  conditions  under  which 
they  were  taught,  have  yielded  to  the  temptation 
to  become  mere  agitators,  unwilling  and  unfit  to  do 
any  kind  of  useful  or  constructive  work.  Naturally 
under  such  conditions  as  teachers,  or  in  any  other 
capacity,  they  have  not  been  able  to  be  of  much  use 
in  winning  support  in  the  South  for  Negro  education. 
Nevertheless  it  is  in  the  public  schools  of  the  South 
that  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  must  get  their 
education,  if  they  are  to  get  any  education  at  all. 

I  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  the  persons 
in  charge  of  the  Negro  colleges  do  not  realize  the 
extent  to  which  it  is  possible  to  create  in  every  part 
of  the  South  a  friendly  sentiment  toward  Negro 
education,  provided  it  can  be  shown  that  this  edu- 
cation has  actually  benefited  and  helped  in  some 
practical  way  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  with 
whom  the  white  man  in  the  South  comes  most  in 
contact.  We  should  not  forget  that  as  a  rule  in 
the  South  it  is  not  the  educated  Negro,  but  the  masses 
of  the  people,  the  farmers,  labourers,  and  servants, 
with  whom  the  white  people  come  in  daily  contact. 


3o4  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

If  the  higher  education  which  is  given  to  the  few 
does  not  in  some  way  directly  or  indirectly  reach 
and  help  the  masses  very  little  will  be  done  toward 
making  Negro  education  popular  in  the  South  or 
toward  securing  from  the  different  states  the  means 
to  carry  it  on. 

On  the  other  hand,  just  so  soon  as  the  Southern 
white  man  can  see  for  himself  the  effects  of  Negro 
education  in  the  better  service  he  receives  from  the 
labourer  on  the  farm  or  in  the  shop;  just  so  soon  as 
the  white  merchant  finds  that  education  is  giving 
the  Negro  not  only  more  wants,  but  more  money 
with  which  to  satisfy  these  wants,  thus  making  him 
a  better  customer;  when  the  white  people  generally 
discover  that  Negro  education  lessens  crime  and 
disease  and  makes  the  Negro  in  every  way  a  better 
citizen,  then  the  white  taxpayer  will  not  look  upon 
the  money  spent  for  Negro  education  as  a  mere  sop 
to  the  Negro  race,  or  perhaps  as  money  entirely 
thrown  away. 

I  said  something  like  this  some  years  ago  to  the 
late  Mr.  H.  H.  Rogers  and  together  we  devised  a 
plan  for  giving  the  matter  a  fair  test.  He  proposed 
that  we  take  two  or  three  counties  for  the  purpose  of 
the  experiment,  give  them  good  schools,  and  see 
what  would  be  the  result. 

We  agreed  that  it  would  be  of  no  use  to  build  these 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  305 

schools  and  give  them  outright  to  the  people,  but 
determined  rather  to  use  a  certain  amount  of  money 
to  stimulate  and  encourage  the  coloured  people  in 
these  counties  to  help  themselves.  The  experiment 
was  started  first  of  all  in  Macon  County,  Ala.,  in 
the  fall  of  1905.  Before  it  was  completed  Mr.  Rog- 
ers died,  but  members  of  his  family  kindly  consented 
to  carry  on  the  work  to  the  end  of  the  term  that 
we  had  agreed  upon  —  that  is  to  say,  to  October, 
1910. 

As  a  result  of  this  work  forty-six  new  school 
buildings  were  erected  at  an  average  cost  of  seven 
hundred  dollars  each;  school  terms  were  lengthened 
from  three  and  four  to  eight  and  nine  months,  at  an 
average  cost  to  the  people  themselves  of  thirty-six 
hundred  dollars  per  year.  Altogether  about  twenty 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  by  the  people  in  the 
course  of  this  five-year  period.  Similar  work  on  a 
less  extensive  scale  was  done  in  four  other  counties. 
As  a  result  we  now  have  in  Macon  County  a  model 
public-school  system,  supported  in  part  by  the  county 
board  of  education,  and  in  part  by  the  contributions 
of  the  people  themselves. 

As  soon  as  we  had  begun  with  the  help  of  the  col- 
oured people  in  the  different  country  communities 
to  erect  these  model  schools  throughout  the  county, 
C.  J.  Calloway,  who  had  charge  of  the  experiment, 


3o6  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

began  advertising  in  coloured  papers  throughout  the 
South  that  in  Macon  County  it  was  possible  for  a 
Negro  farmer  to  buy  land  in  small  or  large  tracts 
near  eight-months'  schools.  Before  long  the  Negro 
farmers  not  only  from  adjoining  counties,  but  from 
Georgia  and  the  neighbouring  states,  began  to  make 
inquiries.  A  good  many  farmers  who  were  not  able 
to  buy  land  but  wanted  to  be  near  a  good  school 
began  to  move  into  the  county  in  order  to  go  to 
work  on  the  farms.  Others  who  already  had  prop- 
erty in  other  parts  of  the  South  sold  out  and  bought 
land  in  Macon  County.  Mr.  Calloway  informs  me 
that,  during  the  last  five  years,  he  alone  has  sold 
land  in  this  county  to  something  like  fifty  families 
at  a  cost  of  $49,740.  He  sold  during  the  year  1910 
1450  acres  at  a  cost  of  $21,335. 

I  do  not  think  that  any  of  us  realized  the  full 
value  of  this  immigration  into  Macon  County  until 
the  census  of  1910  revealed  the  extent  to  which  the 
dislocation  of  the  farming  population  has  been  going 
on  in  other  parts  of  the  state.  The  census  shows, 
for  example,  that  a  majority  of  the  Black  Belt 
counties  in  Alabama  instead  of  increasing  have  lost 
population  during  the  last  ten  years.  It  is  in  the 
Black  Belt  counties  which  have  no  large  cities  that 
this  decrease  has  taken  place.  Macon  County,  al- 
though it  has  no   large  cities,   is  an  exception,  for 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  307 

instead  of  losing  population  it  shows  an  increase 
of  more  than  ten  per  cent. 

I  think  that  there  are  two  reasons  for  this:  In  the 
first  place  there  is  very  little  Negro  crime  and  no 
mob  violence  in  Macon  County.  The  liquor  law 
is  enforced  and  there  are  few  Negroes  in  Macon 
County  who  do  not  cooperate  with  the  officers  of  the 
law  in  the  effort  to  get  rid  of  the  criminal  element. 

In  the  second  place,  Macon  County  is  provided  not 
only  with  the  schools  that  I  have  described,  but 
with  teachers  who  instruct  their  pupils  in  regard  to 
things  that  will  help  them  and  their  parents  to  im- 
prove their  homes,  their  stock,  and  their  land,  and 
in  other  ways  to  earn  a  better  living. 

When  the  facts  brought  out  by  the  census  were 
published  in  Alabama  they  were  the  subject  of  con- 
siderable discussion  among  the  large  planters  and  in 
the  public  press  generally.  In  the  course  of  this  dis- 
cussion I  called  attention,  in  a  letter  to  the  Mont- 
gomery Advertiser,  to  the  facts  to  which  I  have 
referred. 

In  commenting  upon  this  letter  the  editor  of  The 
Advertiser  said: 

The  State  of  Alabama  makes  liberal  appropriations  for  edu- 
cation and  it  is  part  of  the  system  for  the  benefit  to  reach 
both  white  and  black  children.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there 
are  many  difficulties  in  properly  spending  the  money  and  properly 


308  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

utilizing  it  which  will  take  time  and  the  legislature  to  correct. 
The  matter  complained  of  in  the  Washington  letter  could  be 
easily  remedied  by  the  various  county  superintendents  and  it  is 
their  duty  to  see  that  the  causes  for  such  complaint  are  speedily 
removed.  Negro  fathers  and  mothers  have  shown  intense 
interest  in  the  education  of  their  children  and  if  they  cannot 
secure  what  they  want  at  present  residences  they  will  as  soon  as 
possible  seek  it  elsewhere.  We  commend  Booker  Washington's 
letter  on  this  subject  to  the  careful  consideration  of  all  the 
school  officials  and  to  all  citizens  of  Alabama. 

The  value  of  the  experiment  made  in  Macon 
County  is,  in  my  opinion,  less  in  the  actual  good  that 
has  been  done  to  the  twenty-six  thousand  people, 
white  and  black,  who  live  there,  than  it  is  in  the 
showing  by  actual  experiment  what  a  proper  system 
of  Negro  education  can  do  in  a  country  district 
toward  solving  the  racial  problem. 

We  have  no  race  problem  in  Macon  County; 
there  is  no  friction  between  the  races;  agriculture 
is  improving;  the  county  is  growing  in  wealth.  In 
talking  with  the  sheriff  recently  he  told  me  that  there 
is  so  little  crime  in  this  county  that  he  scarcely  finds 
enough  to  keep  him  busy.  Furthermore,  I  think  I 
am  perfectly  safe  in  saying  that  the  white  people  in 
this  county  are  convinced  that  Negro  education 
pays. 

What  is  true  of  Macon  County  may,  in  my  opin- 
ion, be  true  of  every  other  county  in  the  South. 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  309 

Much  will  be  accomplished  in  bringing  this  about 
if  those  schools  which  are  principally  engaged  in  pre- 
paring teachers  shall  turn  about  and  face  in  the 
direction  of  the  South,  where  their  work  lies.  My 
own  experience  convinces  me  that  the  easiest  way 
to  get  money  for  any  good  work  is  to  show  that  you 
are  willing  and  able  to  perform  the  work  for  which 
the  money  is  given.  The  best  illustration  of  this  is, 
perhaps,  the  success,  in  spite  of  difficulties  and  with 
almost  no  outside  aid,  of  the  best  of  the  Negro  med- 
ical colleges.  These  colleges,  although  very  largely 
dependent  upon  the  fees  of  their  students  for  sup- 
port, have  been  successful  because  they  have  pre- 
pared their  students  for  a  kind  of  service  for  which 
there  was  a  real  need. 

What  convinces  me  that  the  same  sort  of  effort 
outside  of  Macon  County  will  meet  with  the  same 
success  is  that  it  has  in  fact  met  with  the  same  suc- 
cess in  the  case  of  Hampton  and  some  other  schools 
that  are  doing  a  somewhat  similar  work.  On  "the 
educational  campaigns"  which  I  have  made  from 
time  to  time  through  the  different  Southern  States 
I  have  been  continually  surprised  and  impressed  at 
the  interest  taken  by  the  better  class  of  white  people 
in  the  work  that  I  Was  trying  to  do.  Everywhere 
in  the  course  of  these  trips  I  have  met  with  a  cor- 
dial, even  an  enthusiastic,  reception  not  only  from 


310  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

the    coloured  people   but  from   the   white   people 
as  well. 

For  example,  during  my  trip  through  North  Car- 
olina in  November  of  1910,  not  only  were  the  sug- 
gestions I  tried  to  make  for  the  betterment  of  the 
schools  and  for  the  improvement  of  racial  relations 
frequently  discussed  and  favourably  commented 
upon  in  the  daily  newspapers,  but  after  my  return 
I  received  a  number  of  letters  and  endorse- 
ments from  distingushed  white  men  in  different 
parts  of  the  state  who  had  heard  what  I  had  had 
to  say. 

I  was  asked  the  other  day  by  a  gentleman  who 
has  long  been  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  coloured 
people  what  I  thought  the  Negro  needed  most  after 
nearly  fifty  years  of  freedom.  I  promptly  answered 
him  that  the  Negro  needed  now  what  he  needed 
fifty  years  ago,  namely,  education.  If  I  had 
attempted  to  be  more  specific  I  might  have  added 
that  what  Negro  education  needed  most  was  not  so 
much  more  schools  or  different  kinds  of  schools  as  an 
educational  policy  and  a  school  system. 

In  the  last  analysis,  the  work  of  building  up  such 
a  school  system  as  I  have  suggested  must  fall  upon 
the  industrial  normal  schools  and  colleges  which 
prepare  the  teacher,  because  it  is  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  teacher  which  determines  the  success 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  311 

of  the  school.  In  order  to  make  a  beginning  in  the 
direction  which  I  have  indicated,  the  different 
schools  and  colleges  will  have  to  spend  much  less 
time  in  the  future  than  they  have  in  the  past  in 
quarrelling  over  the  kind  of  education  the  Negro 
ought  to  have  and  devote  more  time  and  attention 
to  giving  him  some  kind  of  education. 

•In  order  to  accomplish  this  it  will  be  necessary 
for  these  schools  to  obtain  very  much  larger  sums 
of  money  for  education  than  they  are  now  getting. 
I  believe,  however,  if  the  different  schools  will  put 
the  matter  to  the  people  in  the  North  and  the 
people  in  the  South  "in  the  right  shape,"  it  will  be 
possible  to  get  much  larger  sums  from  every  source. 
I  believe  the  state  governments  in  the  South  are 
going  to  see  to  it  that  the  Negro  public  schools  get 
a  much  fairer  share  of  the  money  raised  for  educa- 
tion in  the  future  than  they  have  in  the  past.  At 
the  same  time  I  feel  that  very  few  people  realize  the 
extent  to  which  the  coloured  people  are  willing  and 
able  to  pay,  and,  in  fact,  are  now  paying,for  their  own 
education.  The  higher  and  normal  schools  can 
greatly  aid  the  Negro  people  in  raising  among  them- 
selves the  money  necessary  to  build  up  the  educa- 
tional system  of  the  South  if  they  will  prepare  their 
teachers  to  give  the  masses  of  the  people  the  kind 
of  education  which  will  help  them  to  increase   their 


312  MY  LARGER  EDUCATION 

earnings  instead  of  giving  them  the  kind  of  edu- 
cation that  makes  them  discontented  and  unhappy 
and  does  not  give  them  the  courage  or  disposition 
to  help  themselves. 

In  spite  of  all  the  mistakes  and  misunder- 
standings, I  believe  that  the  Negro  people,  in  their 
struggle  to  get  on  their  feet  intellectually  and  find 
the  kind  of  education  that  would  fit  their  needs,  have 
done  much  to  give  the  world  a  broader  and  more 
generous  conception  of  what  education  is  and  should 
be  than  it  had  before. 

Education,  in  order  to  do  for  the  Negro  the  thing 
he  most  needed,  has  had  to  do  more  and  different 
things  than  it  was  considered  possible  and  fitting 
for  a  school  to  undertake  before  the  problem  of  edu- 
cating a  newly  enfranchised  people  arose.  It  has 
done  this  by  bringing  education  into  contact  with 
men  and  women  in  their  homes  and  in  their  daily 
work. 

The  importance  of  the  scheme  of  education  which 
has  been  worked  out,  particularly  in  industrial 
schools,  is  not  confined  to  America  or  to  the  Negro 
race.  Wherever  in  Europe,  in  Africa,  in  Asia,  or 
elsewhere  great  masses  are  coming  for  the  first  time 
in  contact  with  and  under  the  influence  of  a  higher 
civilization,  the  methods  of  industrial  education  that 
have  been  worked  out  in  the  South  by,  with,  and 


FUTURE  OF  NEGRO  EDUCATION  313 

through   the    Negro    schools   are    steadily    gaining 
ecognition  and  importance. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  fact  that  should  not 
mly  make  the  Negro  proud  of  his  past,  brief  as  it 
Has  been,  but,  at  the  same  time,  hopeful  of  the  future. 


This  preservation  photocopy  was  made 

at  BookLab,  Inc.  in  compliance  with  copyright  law. 

The  paper  meets  the  requirements  of  ANSI/NISO 

Z39.48-1992  (Permanence  of  Paper) 


Austin  1996 


